SEA Games consortium has to rent Senayan at Rp 3.5b

JAKARTA (JP): The troubled 19th Southeast Asia (SEA) Games consortium has been struck another blow by having to pay Rp 3.5 billion (US$1.45 million) to the Gelora Senayan Management Board for renting the Senayan Sports Complex.

The biennial event, which will be opened by President Soeharto on Oct. 11 and end on Oct. 19, will stage 18 of 34 sports -- soccer, track and field, shooting, badminton, wrestling, basketball, fencing, judo, karate, field hockey, archery, swimming, volleyball, softball, tennis, weightlifting, bodybuilding and squash -- at the sports complex.

The consortium's facilities deputy Bambang Riyadi Soegomo said yesterday the cost of renting the complex was not included in the Rp 44.1 billion budget for facilities.

"The State Secretariat is subsidizing the consortium with Rp 18.2 billion to renovate the complex. But the consortium still has to spend Rp 5 billion on renovations," he said.

The consortium will also have to renovate the Raden Inten gymnastics building, the Bulungan hall, the Tebet hall, the East Jakarta hall, the Kuningan hall, the Pertamina Simpruk hall, West Java's Jatiluhur dam and North Jakarta's Sunter lake.

Bambang said the consortium had trouble with one cycling venue.

"We still have no idea how much should be spent to pay for the closing of Jakarta-Cikampek toll road, which will be used for the individual time trial," he said.

The consortium also has to spend Rp 6.3 billion on sports equipment.

"Nearly 90 percent of the equipment is imported. Each sports organization tells us what equipment it needs. They said if the equipment was not of international standard, they could not win," he said.

Canoeing needs Rp 1.9 billion for its equipment, while soccer needs just Rp 1.5 million.

The consortium is looking for sponsors to provide equipment.

Import duty

Bambang said the consortium had not yet received confirmation that the imported equipment would be exempt from import duty and value added tax.

The consortium also does not have enough storage space for the equipment.

To accommodate the 7,462 athletes and officials, 851 referees and 150 VIPs from the 10 participating countries for 14 days, the consortium is allocating Rp 12 billion, which includes service tax but excludes provincial development tax.

Most athletes and officials will stay at the under- construction 40-story athletes village and the Hotel Atlet Century Park, both in Senayan.

Participants whose venues are outside the Senayan complex or Jakarta, will stay at the nearest available hotels.

Each participant will have to pay $20 for their daily meals.

The consortium will have to spend Rp 6 billion on meals for the participants.

Speaking on the Games stickers controversy, Bambang said the consortium would issue financial reports after the event.

"I insist the consortium publish the audited financial reports in all newspapers in the country after the event. It's not true that we won't give a transparent explanation to the public," he said. (yan)