SEAG athletes village cost soars to $418m
JAKARTA (JP): The 19th SEA Games organizing committee is having to reassess the budget for the construction of the athletes village as it is now expected to cost almost six times more than originally thought.
Enggartiasto Lukita, a member of the underwriting consortium, said yesterday that the total cost of the project is now likely to be Rp 1 trillion (US$418 million) rather than the original estimate of $70 million.
"There has been a demand that all athletes should be centralized in the athletes' village. The consortium will have to provide 6,000 beds," Enggartiasto said.
About 4,300 athletes, 700 officials and 900 referees from the seven ASEAN nations and the three countries with observer status are to be accommodated at the 2,000-room village.
Construction of the village, which is being built on a four- hectare plot formerly used as a shooting range at the Senayan sports complex in Central Jakarta, began in mid-November.
"There was no mistake in the initial designs. There was no mistake made either by the committee or the National Sports Council but we must now change the design to comply with the current demands," he said.
Enggartiasto declined to blame anyone for the error; he only said that the number of athletes had increased from the original forecast due to the addition of several sports.
The village will have two towers and each will consist of 1,000 rooms. Three people will share each room.
The committee, which had to wait for a city administration permit before starting the construction, sees the weather as the biggest problem in completing the construction on time.
"We're very worried when it's raining. It's impossible for our people to work on the construction in heavy rain," Enggartiasto said.
The village is expected to be completed two weeks before the 19th SEA Games is opened by the President on Oct. 11.
Enggartiasto stressed that although the village is being built in a very short time the committee is not neglecting the safety of the athletes.
"Of course we'll guarantee the athletes' safety because we are risking our names as entrepreneurs," he said.
Meanwhile Arie Sudewo, the organizers' vice chairman who is also the council's vice chairman, said yesterday that the more rooms the athletes village has the better.
"The more guests we can accommodate the more pleased I'll be. The most important thing is the foreign athletes should not have first priority," he said.
Transportation
Arie said that the committee has decided to employ four transportation systems for the Games participants.
There will be shuttle buses, a package transportation system for each contingent, extra buses at the shuttle bus terminal for emergency needs and private buses for rent.
Arie said that he has yet to receive any information on vehicle purchasing from other countries, the way the government provided transportation for the APEC meeting in Bogor, West Java, 1994.
"Hopefully after Idul Fitri, the transportation plan will be finalized so we will be able to go further with the implementation," he said.
Separately, Arie said that the water sports events need much more new equipment than any other sports.
"The rowing committee has asked to buy new traditional boats, kayaks and canoes," he said.
Although the National Games organizers bought some equipment last year, it is all being used by the Indonesian Rowing Association for the centralized training program at the Jatiluhur dam, the venue for the water sports.
Arie said that the committee is negotiating with textile company Texmaco to lay a new synthetic hockey field.
"Texmaco is asking Rp 1.5 billion to build the new field, but the council is still asking for a cheaper price," he said.
The new field is to be built at the Senayan complex next to the old grass-hockey field. (yan)