Asiad on track despite crisis: Thailand
Asiad on track despite crisis: Thailand
BANGKOK (Reuters): Thailand said yesterday it would be ready
to hold the 13th Asian Games in Bangkok as scheduled in December
despite budget cuts, regional economic turmoil and some sponsor
threats to pull out.
The Thais have hosted three previous Asiads but have been
struggling to overcome various problems, particularly delays in
building sporting venues, since being awarded the games in 1990.
They have been warned several times by the Olympic Council of
Asia (OCA) to step up efforts or risk losing the right to host
the games.
Santiparb Tejavanija, deputy secretary-general of the
organizing committee, played down yesterday recent reports that
the region's economic turmoil had put the games into jeopardy
with several sponsors pulling out.
"I think it's a misunderstanding," he said in an interview. "I
can assure you up to this moment there's no sponsor pullout.
He denied local media reports that telecommunications company
Samart Corp was going to reduce its US$10 million sponsorship by
$2.0 million.
He said the organizing committee, BAGOC, had refused Samart's
request to cut its sponsorship amount. The two sides were trying
to negotiate a compromise.
"This has to do with the dignity of the country," Santiparb
added. "Everything will go according to plan."
He said the budget for the Games had been slashed to 2.08
billion baht ($38.1 million) -- the third time it had been pared
down since an original estimate of about 3.5 billion.
An OCA spokesman, who also denied that Bangkok was in danger
of losing the games, said the cuts were not too worrisome.
"You have to put the budget cuts in some sort of context," he
said. "There isn't a single Olympic Games that hasn't been
subject to cuts."
"The OCA is maintaining a constant and very detailed dialog
with BAGOC to ensure that none of the events or any of the venues
would fall below standards."
And he said talk of major delays in some of the venue sites --
one of the main problems that resulted in OCA intervention and
threats in the past -- was unfounded.
"Under no circumstances will the Asian Games fall below the
strictly supervised quality standards," he said. "They've set
tough criteria for BAGOC to adhere to for the facilities ... to
ensure that they are ready with sufficient leeway."
But BAGOC has been fraught with venue-related problems,
including the collapse of the roof of the Asian Games swimming
pool last month just as OCA officials were visiting Bangkok.
Santiparb admitted that the venues being built by Bangkok Land
-- including a multipurpose indoor stadium, a rugby field and
tennis courts -- were running behind schedule.
But he said the various venues should be completed by late
August.
Bangkok Land, which received controversial loans sponsored by
the government to ensure it would complete the project, said it
had credit lines of 2.0 billion baht from Siam Commercial Bank
and 800 million from the Government Savings Bank.
But transportation could prove to be a headache in congested
Bangkok, after a $3.2 billion mass transit project by Hopewell
Holdings was canceled due to repeated delays. Part of it was
supposed to have been ready for the games.
One bright impact of the economic turmoil in Thailand -- where
the baht has lost more than 54 percent of its value against the
dollar since July -- is that most of the revenue coming in is in
dollars, and expenditure is in baht.
"So the baht's devaluation will be beneficial to the
organizing committee," said Santiparb, who is even hoping for a
budget surplus from the Games.
A record 10,000 athletes are expected for the Dec. 6-Dec. 20
Asian Games -- the biggest sporting event in the region and
second largest in the world after the Summer Olympics.