Kem chho Trump! World's largest cricket stadium all set to host POTUS

One of the major attractions of US President Donald Trump's two-day visit to India will be POTUS inaugurating the world's largest cricket stadium in Motera, Gujarat. The event -- dubbed as 'Kem chho Trump' or 'Howdy! Trump' -- will see the US President taking part in a roadshow before inaugurating the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium, also known as Motera Stadium, on February 24.

Trump is the fourth head of the state to visit the capital city of Ahmedabad after those from China, Japan and Israel. According to the Gujarat Cricket Association, this was Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream project. Modi, during his tenure as the GCA chief, had expressed his desire to build a new stadium of maximum capacity in the state. When he was sworn in as the PM in 2014, BJP President Amit Shah took over the GCA's command.

As per reports, to make the inauguration ceremony a grand event, the Gujarat Cricket Association will spend crores of rupees to host the US President. Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner Vijay Nehra tweeted that the 'Namaste Trump' event was getting "bigger and bigger". He said more than 1 lakh participants had already confirmed their registration for the 22-km road-show that would be held during Trump's visit. Earlier this month, Trump had said PM Modi promised "millions and millions" of people would line his route during his visit to Gujarat.

About world's largest stadium

• The Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera is built for Rs 700 crore and has a seating capacity of 1,10,000. The first match to be played in the new stadium is anticipated to be an exhibition match between Asia XI and World XI in March.
• The Motera stadium will be the biggest cricket ground, surpassing the Melbourne Cricket Ground's capacity of 1 lakh.
• The new Sardar Patel stadium has been constructed by Larson and Toubro (L&T), which is also responsible for the design, construction and maintenance of the world's tallest statue, Statue of Unity.
• The Motera stadium spreads over 63 acres and will have a clubhouse with over three practice grounds, an indoor cricket academy, an Olympic size swimming pool, 76 corporate boxes, 50 rooms, four dressing rooms and a parking area, which can hold around 3,000 cars and nearly 10,000 bikes.
• A solar power plant is also being constructed in the stadium premises to utilise sustainable power. Lubi Solar, a division of Lubi Electronics, is handling the solar power plant.
• The new cricket stadium will also have a parking area that can accommodate about 3,000 four-wheeler cars and up to 10,000 two-wheelers.
• GCA management has also considered traffic issues while designing the layout of the new cricket ground. According to the new layout, the traffic will be segregated in three directions. Apart from using Motera-Sabarmati Road, the management plans to integrate Metro Rail and Sabarmati Riverfront Road.