A fresh deadline, but familiar woes
With 96 days left for the Commonwealth Games, the training-cum-practice facility that is being developed adjacent to the Games Village is still under construction and chances of it getting ready by the revised July 31 deadline seem bleak.
Delays, of late, have become an inevitable part of the Organising Committee’s scheme of things, which saw the first December 31 deadline for venue completion being shifted to June 30. After a careful review of the progress of the ongoing projects recently, Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell was prompted to instruct the OC to pick up the pace of work.
As many as 8,500 athletes are expected to stay at the Games Village with members of the Indian contingent expected to move in as early as the first week of August. With the monsoons approaching, further delays are now on the cards.
As of now, the eight-lane synthetic rubber track for sprint events has been laid but the central area is yet to be levelled in preparation for turf to be planted. To add to that, work on separate sections for the long jump and high jump pits and the shot put, hammer throw and javelin throw areas is yet to begin.
However, an elevated platform that can seat 1,086 spectators is almost complete with lighting and electrical fittings remaining.
Work is also on at the separate change rooms for men and women players along with toilets. The basic concrete structure for the training hall — to serve as a practice area for wrestling and weightlifting — and a state of the art gymnasium is nearing completion, but there is a lot of work to be done on the interiors.
The maple wood flooring for the training hall and tiling in most parts of the centre is yet to start.
Work on the Organising Committee office, media centre and commercial space for equipment merchandise manufacturers and merchandise retailing is still in progress.
Glass work on the exteriors has started but the air-conditioning plant for the entire building is yet to be installed. Also the entry and exit points along with roads leading to the centre needs attention.
One area of contention though is the aquatics centre, which will have a 25x50x1.35m swimming pool, leisure pool and a kids pool with white tensile fabric roofing.
While the pools have been built, the iron structure that will hold up the roof is yet to be installed. The drainage system of the complex also needs to be built.
An artificial lake, that will act as a water-harvesting unit, and garden being made on one side of the centre needs at least a month to complete.
Once this is complete, the big job will be to dispose of the debris and unused material left around the complex, as was evident at the venues hosting test events for the October 3 to 14 Games recently.s
However, Delhi Development Authority spokesperson Nemo Dhar was optimistic that the facility would be handed to the OC on time.
“I don’t know the specific details about what work remains to be done but I am sure that we will hand over the entire Games village on August 1,” Dhar said.
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