Beşiktaş given green light for İnönü Stadium plan

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

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Beşiktaş has been given the go-ahead to reconstruct its aging İnönü Stadium close to the Bosphorus.
The Environment and Urban Planning Ministry approved a decision to demolish the historical stadium, located in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district, before a new and modern stadium will be rebuilt in the same place with new facilities.

Debt-ridden Beşiktaş had been planning to renovate its historic stadium next season to turn the venue into a more lucrative one, similar to what its rivals Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe did in recent years.
Galatasaray left its Ali Sami Yen Stadium to move to the modern Türk Telekom Arena last year while Fenerbahçe renovated its Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium gradually as the team continued to play its home games there.

It is still unknown which ground Beşiktaş will use during the rebuilding process.

An official from the ministry’s Spatial Planning Department said Beşiktaş’s application to the institution was approved after a study of the geology and settlement around the stadium.

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality conducted a comprehensive study before the approval, Mehmet Ali Kahraman, head of the Spatial Planning Department, told Anatolia news agency.

Beşiktaş management has welcomed the approval and announced that the construction to rebuild the stadium will begin in May 2013, when the current football season ends.

Umut Güner, who is in charge of the new stadium project, said they had been waiting for the approval for a long time but added that they would also have to deal with the local municipality of Beşiktaş to officially launch the new construction.

The Istanbul Chamber of City Planners, on the other hand, said the new project would make existing problems around the stadium worse.

“This place is officially considered a cultural asset and as a chamber we are against its demolition,” Kahraman told the Hürriyet Daily News yesterday in a phone interview.