POC to push for satellite venues in ’05

HANOI, Vietnam (Via Globe Telecom) — While Vietnam took over two years to build infrastructure projects for the 22nd Southeast Asian Games, the Philippines will not be starting construction on sports facilities for the 2005 Manila Games until after the May elections.

That will give the government a leadtime of only one-and-a-half years considering that the government will have to build completely new ones, or as a last resort repair existing facilities.

Philippine Olympic Committee president Celso Dayrit said the Manila SEA Games planning committee composed of officials of the POC and the Philippine Sports Commission is putting in place alternative plans which include dispersing the games to provinces willing to host at least five sports events.

Dayrit said provincial governments have until February to make their bids, while the POC/PSC committee will make final decisions after completion of the proposals by December.

Under the plan, provincial governments will have to shoulder the total cost of construction of facilities under their own jurisdiction, including the cost to organize and host the sports events. This will include accommodation of athletes and officials, transportation and all other services required in holding the Games at their level.

While the government will be the key figure in the planning stage for the Games, the usual government bureaucracy after the May elections could force the POC/PSC committee to go for the "minimum." This will include repair of existing facilities and even reducing the number of sports from the originally proposed list of 30 to 20-22 sports, which is the minimum under SEA Games guidelines.

In contrast, the Vietnamese, a nation that has yet to recover politically and socially from the chaos of the Vietnam War and many other wars before that, have made an impression of their technical capabilities with their construction of sports facilities for the current SEA Games and in the organization and hosting of the Games in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh.

Dayrit said that, given the worst scenario, the "minimum" SEA Games will be an entirely different one, and although politics maybe a big variable in the success of preparations for the Games, the 2005 Manila Games will definitely be held.

"It will not be the best ever SEA Games but it will be the first ever SEA Games," said Dayrit. "It will be a different one, where it will be fun for just everybody."