BPGS sets ambitious target following its name change
JAKARTA (JP): The Gelora Senayan Management Board (BPGS) set an ambitious target for the next five years following President Abdurrahman Wahid's decision on Sunday to rename the Senayan Sports Complex as Bung Karno Sports Complex.
"We expect the sports complex to fulfill the requirements for international multisports events such as the Asian Games in five years to come," chairman of the Gelora Senayan Executive Directors (DPGS) Yasidi Hambali told The Jakarta Post on Monday at his office.
"The State Secretary has approved BPGS' 2001-2005 five-year plan to up-grade the sports complex to reach this target."
Indonesia withdrew its plan to bid for the 2006 Asian Games host, which was later won by Qatar, due to its lack of world- class sports venues.
Senayan hosted the 1962 Asian Games, the first ever, thanks to Indonesia's first president Sukarno who initiated the complex's construction in 1958.
Yasidi said BPGS expected the complex to be able to host half of the sports featured in international multisports events.
"We expect to stage some 16 to 18 sports in the complex. In the 1997 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, the complex housed 18 of 34 sports being staged."
"The sports complex is set to hold Olympic sports such as track and field, gymnastics, soccer and swimming. But other specific sports, such as canoeing and equestrian, have to be staged outside the complex."
In 2001, BPGS will concentrate on renovating the Senayan Stadium, which has been suffering acute inundation in several sections during heavy rains.
"We will work on the stadium's infrastructure, especially its sewerage system which needs to be improved. So far, leakages at the billiard and squash venues have been fixed," said Yasidi.
"Another technical problem is the Senayan Stadium's second and third floors which are not waterproof. Perhaps the Russian engineers, who built the stadium, didn't anticipate heavy rainfall here almost all-year long," he added, while pointing to spectators' lack-of-discipline as another cause of the leakage.
"Most of the spectators urinate on the seats. Given the untreated floors, such behavior causes worse leakage."
"BPGS has established a cooperation with the University of Indonesia's Engineering School and Trisakti University's Landscape School to design a five-year development blueprint for the sports complex."
"Using the blueprint, we can fully optimize all the venues while at the same time retaining the open space and city forest located here."
The Basketball Stadium is another venue to be given priority this year while confirming there are no plans to build new venues.
In the long term, Yasidi said BPGS would upgrade the Senayan Swimming Pool into an integrated aquatic center.
"The International Swimming Federation (FINA) has certified that the main pool has met international standards. But we still have to install sensitive touch panels and an advanced scoring board."
"BPGS will open the possibility for an electronic sign board producer to install a scoring board in a long term barter or win- win arrangement. This will reduce our financial burden," he said, adding that the scoring board could cost up to Rp 1 billion (US$105,300).
Speaking on a multisports event requirement of an athletes village, Yasidi said it was impossible for BPGS to build an athletes' village due to its unclear future use after the event is over without government or private sector involvement.
"We can learn from the Barcelona and Seoul experience when hosting the Olympics by involving the private sector to build the village."
"The developer then sold the village to the public as apartments after the Olympics was over." (nvn)