Plans for the construction of two new sports ovals at Kingborough in Tasmania, Australia, have been handed a boost after the Tasmanian Liberals promised to contribute AU$1.5m (£844,112, €965,960, US$1.4m).

The Twin Ovals development, which is situated next to the Kingborough Sports Complex, will provide a new Australian Football League (AFL)-standard home for Kingborough Tigers Football Club and Kingborough District Cricket Club. Both the Australian federal government and Kingborough Council have already agreed to contribute towards the project, but the Tasmanian Liberals have now stepped in to help meet the AU$1.5m shortfall for a planned function centre.

In addition to the 200-seat function centre, the plans include changing rooms, a turf cricket wicket and eight practice wickets, an access road and a car park and floodlights, while a spectator grandstand is expected to be built at a later date. Scheduled for completion by the summer of 2010-11, the scheme is being led by Andrew Walter Constructions and Total Turf Care and forms part of a wider multi-sport precinct in Kingborough to include a new State Gymnastics Centre and an extended Kingborough Sports Complex.

Will Hodgman MP of the Tasmanian Liberals said: "The intention of the Twin Ovals is to deliver a range of major sporting and community based benefits for all southern Tasmanian's thus it should include a function centre and decent sized change rooms and toilets. "The improved facilities will encourage more people to participate in sport and have healthier lifestyles, and the Sports Precinct will also attract more visitors to Kingborough with flow on economic benefits to local businesses."