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)