Games consortium to build athletes villages soon
Games consortium to build athletes villages soon
JAKARTA (JP): The underwriting consortium of next year's 19th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games here will build new athletes' villages in three locations, including Senayan in South Jakarta.
Bambang Yoga Sugama, a member of the consortium, told journalists here last week that the planned athletes' villages will be sold or leased to the public after the games are over.
"We have the option to offer the villages to the public before the games start," Bambang Yoga said.
He explained that the athletes' village complex in Senayan will be built on a four-hectare site, just next to the Senayan shooting range.
The plot, part of the sprawling sports complex, is now owned by a son of President Soeharto, Bambang Trihatmodjo, who is also chairman of the consortium.
Bambang Yoga said the consortium grouped four individuals, including himself and Bambang Trihatmodjo. He declined to name the other two.
He explained that another athletes village will be built in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta. It will be built on the former Kemayoran airport grounds, some of which has already been converted into housing complexes or taken over by the Jakarta Fair.
He added that the other athletes' accommodation complex will be in Cileungsi, Bogor, some 25 kilometers south of here.
Some sources said that a dormitory in Cileungsi owned by Soeharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, will be used as the athletes' village during the SEA Games.
State Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Hayono Isman suggested recently that all martial arts, archery and golf competitions be held at several venues outside Jakarta including Cibubur and Sentul, both in Bogor.
Hayono said that the Senayan sports complex will be the venue of 17 of the 25 events proposed by Indonesia for the SEA Games. The final decision on the number of events will be made at the SEA Games Council Members Meeting here in August.
Around 5,000 sportsmen and women from Southeast Asian countries are expected to take part in the SEA Games, the third time Jakarta has acted as host.
In the previous two Games, in 1979 and 1987, Indonesia accommodated its guests in Senayan athletes' village land, which now has been turned into a business center and shopping mall.
Next year's SEA Games will cost the consortium Rp 70 billion (US$30 million).
The Bambang Trihatmodjo-led consortium was the only private one which managed to submit a proposal to the state minister's office.
Bambang Yoga said that his consortium has collected Rp 15 billion for the SEA Games. He declined to elaborate on how his consortium had collected the funds and how it would raise the other Rp 55 billion.
He explained that if the consortium finally managed to collect all the needed funds, it would be determined that all games will be opened free to all, except the opening and closing ceremonies due to security problems.
He added that all local television stations will also be free to broadcast all the events. (rid)