Momentum builds behind campaign to reclaim stadium leased to Nay Pyi Taw FC

Momentum builds behind campaign to reclaim stadium leased to Nay Pyi Taw FC

By Hsu Hlaing Htun   |   Friday, 04 July 2014

The Ministry for Sports is coming under increasing scrutiny for a 2011 deal to rent a local football stadium in Nay Pyi Taw to a football team owned by the minister's son.

A security guard stands outside Paunglaung Stadium, which was renamed Nay Pyi Taw FC Stadium after it was leased to the football club in 2011. (Hsu Hlaing Htun/The Myanmar Times)

Pyinmana residents say the 30-year contract has left them unable to use the stadium, which they say is owned by the community and not the ministry.

They have started a petition campaign to get back the right to use the stadium and threatened to stage protests if the football club, Nay Pyi Taw FC, does not negotiate usage rights with them.

Former athlete U Kyaw Min Han, a member of the Paunglaung Stadium supervising committee who is leading the movement to get back the stadium, said the petition had already attracted more than 1000 signatures.

He said efforts to raise the issue with the ministry and football club through the Nay Pyi Taw Council had failed.

"If officials from Nay Pyi Taw FC don't agree to negotiate, we will submit a petition letter to the President and respective departments in Nay Pyi Taw Council … If there is no decisive decision we will protest."

In June 2011, the Ministry of Sports, headed by minister U Tint San, agreed to rent the stadium to Nay Pyi Taw FC, owned by the minister's son, U Phyo Ko Ko Tint San, for 30 years at K3 million a month, with the first three years rent-free.

Nay Pyi Taw FC then renovated the stadium and changed the name to Nay Pyi Taw FC Stadium. At a ceremony to reopen the stadium, U Phyo Ko Ko Tint San promised that township-level football matches would still be able to take place there.

But members of the committee's supervisory committee say they were never consulted over the deal, and after it was signed local football teams were not allowed to hold matches at the site.

At the request of residents, the local Amyotha Hluttaw representative, U Hmat Gyi, asked in parliament on June 18 whether the ministry planned to give the stadium back. In response, U Tint San said the ministry would continue to rent it to Nay Pyi Taw FC.

"The state-owned Paunglaung Stadium in Nay Pyi Taw's Pyimana township is rented to Nay Pyi Taw FC under contract. The intention of this is that its players can practice and hold football matches there under the guidance of the Myanmar Football Federation," U Tint San said.

"With the permission of the authorities, it will also be used free of charge for matches of the [government ministries] if there is no [Nay Pyi Taw FC] match on the day they want to use the stadium. Also, the stadium can be used for practice if it is not otherwise in use."

U Kyaw Min Han said locals were angry at U Tint San for describing the stadium as "state-owned". He said former athletes had established it in July 1963 and managed it without ministry support for decades.

"The stadium has never been transferred to any group or government body since it was established," he said.

"We feel like landlords who have to ask permission from our tenants … Paunglaung Stadium is ours but we are happy to have [Nay Pyi Taw FC] as tenants if local players also have the right to use the stadium."

Former football player Ko Kyaw Gyi said teams now had nowhere to play.

"Unless something is done we'll have nowhere to hold games for 30 years ... This is unacceptable. We want our stadium back," he said.

Translation by Thiri Min Htun

Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2014/07/07/momentum-builds-behind-campaign-to-reclaim-stadium-leased-to-nay-pyi-taw-fc/