Palembang faces Games lodging woes

MANILA, Philippines - Organizers of the forthcoming 26th Southeast Asian Games are facing a major problem: a shortage of hotel rooms in Palembang.

The deputy chef-de-mission of the Philippine delegation said if unresolved in time, it should also pose a problem for the Pinoy athletes.

There are three venues for this year’s SEA Games with Palembang as the main hub, and Jakarta and West Java as the others.

While there’s no problem in Jakarta and West Java, Romeo Magat said it’s a different case in Palembang.

“They are expecting 4,000 athletes in Palembang and it turned out the athletes village can only house 2,200,” he said.

To solve the problem, organizers will use two floating hotels, luxury ships, that could accommodate 750 persons each.

“So that still leaves you with 300 more without rooms. They will be scattered in different hotels in Palembang,” he added.

The Filipino tennis official is hoping that organizers of the Games set Nov. 11 to 22 have only overestimated the number of the expected guests.

In Jakarta, the expected number of participants is around 5,000, to be billeted in more than 20 different hotels based on their sport.

“There’s no problem in Jakarta because there are so many hotels there. The problem there is that the traffic is a nightmare,” said Magat.

“Still, I’m hoping that they just overestimated the number because if they expect 4,000 in Palembang, how can there be 5,000 athletes in Jakarta,” he added.

Based on experience, he said the number of athletes in the SEA Games do not exceed 8,000, considering that there are a hundred more vying in West Java.

Still, Magat said he hopes to give his fellow Filipino officials a clearer picture once he arrives in Jakarta today.

The official sendoff party for the Philippine delegation, including more than 500 athletes and probably more than 200 officials, is set Nov. 4 at Philsports.

“We are facing this problem in Palembang. They have to solve this within the week. I don’t know how many rooms in the village were allocated to us,” said Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richie Garcia.