Asian Games, Para Games Facilities to be Ready at Year-end

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The development of all facilities for the 2018 Asian Games and Asian Para Games will be completed under a contract on December 31, Minister of Public Works and People`s Housing Basuki Hadimuljono stated.

"All facilities will be completed by Dec 31, and the contract also includes the maintenance of infrastructure for the next six months," the minister noted at the Vice Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Hadimuljono was present at the palace for a luncheon and briefing of the 2018 Asian Games, as Vice President Jusuf Kalla is the chairman of the Steering Committee of the 2018 Asian Games.

The event was also attended by Minister of Youth and Sports Imam Nachrawi, representatives of the 2018 Indonesia Asian Games Organizing Committee (INASGOC) and Indonesian National Sports Committee, as well as members of a board of 40 sports to be competed at the Asian Games.

According to Hadimuljono, the progress in the construction of the Asian Games facilities included 90 percent of the development of the athletes` venues and village, while the remaining 10 percent of the development project is merely to tidy up the areas around the sports facilities in Jakarta and Palembang.

"Hence, only the roads around the athletes` village, gardens, and mushollas in the complex of the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium need to be tidied up," he stated.

He revealed that the same target also applied to the development of the 2018 Asian Paragames facilities, as the event will be held in Jakarta on Oct 8-16.

"All facilities for both events will be completed on Dec 31, but an issue that needs to be fixed at the athletes` village is to widen the doors and entrances for people with disabilities," he explained.

Meanwhile, Hadimuljono said his ministry had requested that the project involving the renovation of the velodrome area and equestrian venue of Rawamangun, managed by the Jakarta provincial government, be completed by May 2018 at the latest.

Earlier in his briefing address, Vice President Kalla had stressed that starting January 2, 2018, if no further complaints are received regarding the administrative reports, then all preparations should focus on the training of athletes.

Kalla affirmed that based on the evaluation of an earlier mechanism, the government had modified the system of disbursement of national training funds, so they can be channeled directly by the Ministry of Youth and Sports to each sport based on Presidential Regulation Number 95 of 2017 on improving national sporting achievement.

The budget expected to be disbursed is in the form of an additional Rp1.5 trillion for the INASGOC that had received Rp500 billion in April 2017 and Rp735.06 billion to be added to the athletes` achievement fund worth Rp1.7 trillion.

ANTARA