LAHORE: Punjab Minister for Sports Malik Faisal Ayub Khokhar on Tuesday chaired a meeting on the Annual Development Programme (ADP) 2026-27 to review ongoing and proposed sports development schemes across the province.
Secretary Sports Punjab Fazal-ur-Rehman, Director General Sports Punjab Muhammad Tariq Qureshi, Director Admin Abid Shaukat and PMU officers attended the meeting, according to an official statement.
The Minister was given a detailed briefing on the progress of ongoing development projects, as well as newly proposed schemes and their expected completion timelines.
The meeting was briefed on various proposed sites for the establishment of the Maryam Nawaz Sports City, and a detailed discussion was held on improving sports facilities and developing sports infrastructure across Punjab.
“The Maryam Nawaz Sports City would be a landmark project and it will be Pakistan’s first modern sports city,” Malik Faisal Ayub Khokhar said. “The project will feature world-class sports complexes equipped with modern facilities to promote sports and nurture athletic talent.”
Site selection is the decisive early variable in projects of this type. Location determines land acquisition cost, access for athletes travelling from other districts, and whether the venue remains in regular use after inauguration — the point at which purpose-built sports complexes in Pakistan have most often struggled.
The Sports Minister directed the authorities concerned to ensure all ongoing development projects were completed within the stipulated timeframe.
He said there would be no compromise on the quality and standards of development projects. “Providing world-class sports facilities to the youth is a priority of the Punjab government,” he said, adding that sports infrastructure across Punjab would be further strengthened to give young athletes better opportunities and facilities.
Malik Faisal Ayub Khokhar directed officials to improve the registration process of the Rising Star Portal so that the maximum number of athletes could be registered.
“Through this practice Punjab Sports Department will be able to identify plenty of talented athletes from across the province,” he said.
A functioning athlete registry addresses a long-standing structural gap in Pakistani sport, where talent identification has depended heavily on informal networks, school and college competitions, and departmental teams. A digital registry, if maintained, allows selectors to track performance across districts rather than relying on who happens to be visible in Lahore or a handful of urban centres.
The Minister said the Punjab Sports Department will organise several major sports events in the coming weeks, including the CM Punjab Youth Games.
Mass-participation youth games serve both a development and a scouting function, feeding results directly into talent pipelines — which makes the timing of the Rising Star Portal directive, ahead of the games rather than after them, operationally logical.
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