BENGALURU: The Sports Authority of India, South Centre, will soon have two artificial surfaces for hockey -one green and another blue.

Initially, SAI had planned an expenditure of Rs 5.71 crore to upgrade its hockey facility with a green turf from Greenfields of Netherlands, belonging to the same variety used at last year’s FIH World Cup at The Hague.

But it changed its mind at Hockey India’s behest, allowing for a blue pitch too at the adjacent piece of land which was earlier used for archery. With all facilities to be either installed or constructed afresh on the second pitch, the allocation has been pegged at Rs 8.6 crore. “Hockey India wanted a blue pitch similar to the type planned at the 2016 Rio Olympics. We decided that both surfaces with all facilities should be located in Bengaluru. Hence a fresh budget had to be prepared and sanctioned,” top SAI sources told STOI.

The green turf is likely to be ready by June and will host the national camps from the subsequent months. “We are on course now. The turf will land in a week. Our deadline is May 31. Even if we run into unexpected problems, we should have the facility ready by mid June,” the sources said.

The blue pitch will take a few more months to be installed, it is learnt. “We are keen on completing the work by the end of this year,” the sources added.

Both pitches come with bigger run-off areas on the sides and behind the goal posts, veritably enlarging the area occupied by them. Other upgrades include an automated sprinkler system, new floodlights with the illumination enhanced to 600 lux, renovated changing rooms and a tower for the team videographer to capture all the action during practice.

All these facilities will be replicated for the blue pitch. Hockey camps return to the city two years after the centre’s wornout Polytan pitch was found too ‘unsuitable’ for high-intensity training. In 2012 too, the camp was shifted abruptly to Pune for similar reasons.

Procedural delays despite dire warning signs during the Olympic year stalled the turf’s arrival but apparently, the authorities had big plans for Bengaluru.