Athletes' village project waiting for city permit
JAKARTA (JP): The 19th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games underwriting consortium has failed to begin construction of a new athletes' village because the city administration is yet to issue the building permit.
"We are ready to build, but we must wait for the permit," Bambang Sugomo, a consortium member, said yesterday.
Bambang said the consortium has only 10 months to complete the village, which is expected to cost the 19th SEA Games organizing committee between US$60 million and $70 million.
The village will stand on a four-hectare lot formerly used as a shooting range at the Senayan sports complex in Central Jakarta.
As a comparison, organizers of the previous Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand needed three years to build a new village, Bambang said.
Bambang, who is also the committee's deputy official for housing, said the consortium had requested a permit to build a village which would comprise 1,000 rooms several months ago, but it received no response.
"If the city administration fails to issue the permit by the end of this month, I'm afraid we will have to cancel this plan," Bambang said.
Arie Soedewo, vice chairman of the National Sports Council, said the permit problems should be resolved immediately. "We agree to the plan. It will be useful to have a village which lies close to all sport venues in Senayan," he said.
"The village will not only function during the SEA Games, but it can be used for other major events in the future," Arie said.
The Indonesian Cycling Association yesterday announced it had set a target of winning half of the 16 gold medals on offer at the 19th Southeast Asian Games in Jakarta next year.
Speaking after a meeting with the sports council officials, the cycling association's deputy official for athletes' development, Didi Soedijanto, said Indonesia's best gold medal chances were in the men's 1000-meter Individual Time Track (ITT), 50km ITT, 4000m Team Pursuit and either cross country or down hill.
In the women's division, Indonesia is likely to win the 3000m Individual Pursuit, Point Race, 25km ITT and cross country, Didi said.
National program
The association will choose 25 male and eight female cyclists to undergo a long-term national program, scheduled to kick off on Nov. 1. "We have picked all winners in the recent National Games to join the program," Didi said.
Didi said veterans Tonton Suprapto of West Java and Nurhayati of Yogyakarta remained the country's best hopes to grab medals.
Indonesia brought home five gold, four silver and three bronze medals in last year's Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Host Thailand won four golds, four silvers and two bronzes.
In an effort to give the team more exposure, the association will send its cyclists for an overseas stint in either Australia or Italy. "We chose the two countries because they hold many national competitions throughout the year," Didi said.
The association also named Australian Shayne Bannan as the new national team coach.
Yesterday's consultative meeting also heard reports from the Indonesian Fencing Association.
The fencing body's secretary-general Soerjono predicted that Indonesia's would not match the six gold medals it won in 1995.
Thailand won only one gold, four silvers and five bronzes at home in 1995, compared to Indonesia's six golds, four silvers and four bronzes.
The decentralized training program for national fencers will start on Nov. 1. The centralized program will begin here in March next year, with only 24 male and 16 female athletes qualifying.
"After four months of training, the national fencing team will try out in Eastern Europe," Soerjono said.
As an early preparation, the association will hire a foreign coach, probably from Eastern Europe, but Soerjono refused to identify the coach.
Soerjono said the Philippines and Thailand would be Indonesia's main fencing competitors. (yan)