Athletes' village project waiting for city permit
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)