Palembang Sports Council (Koni Palembang) chairman Muddai Madang told delegates from the participating countries during the SEA Games Federation executive meeting last Friday in Bali that the delays were caused by the late delivery of construction materials at the Merak Port in Banten due to bad weather the past few days.

Madang said the affected venues include the shooting range, the swimming pool and the track and field arena.

But the Indonesian sports official added that they expect the government to come up with the money to help the organizers finish the construction of the said venues by next month, at the most.

“The Youth and Sports Ministry has promised to help us, including with the tenders (money) for seven other new venues,” said Madang.

But in a news article which came out at the Jakarta Post, Madang expressed hopes that the venues will be ready when they invite representatives of the participating countries to inspect the venues on July.

South Sumatra Governor Alex Noerdin, meanwhile, also expressed confidence that Palembang will be able to meet the construction deadline. He also turned down an earlier suggestion to relocate some of the events in co-host city Jakarta.

“If there are still problems with the three venues, we may use older venues that would only require a little renovation,” Noerdin said.

Noerdin is referring to the Lumban Tirta public swimming pool as well as the track and field arena inside the Bumi Sriwijaya Stadium.

Peter Atencio, Manila Standard Today