First check of SEA Games complex set for April
Photo: The SEA Games main stadium as it looked last month, with construction now about 80 percent complete.
All facilities at the 25th SEA Games sports complex are now more than 80 percent complete, site manager Kiengkham Phoutchanhthavongsa said yesterday.
“We are confident that construction of all venues at the site will be finished by the end of March. We are now putting the finishing touches to the facilities at each venue, installing furniture and building roads around the complex,” he said.
“When construction is finished, there will be three months of checks of the facilities at all venues in the complex to make sure everything is functioning properly. The schedule of tests runs from April to June, after which we will hand over the complex to the Lao SEA Games Organising Committee.”
The 125-hectare sports complex is located in Dongsanghine village, Xaythany district, Vientiane , and houses the main stadium with a seating capacity of 20,000, which will be used for the football and track and field events and for the opening and closing ceremonies.
Other venues at the site comprise two indoor stadiums, each with a seating capacity of 3,000, an indoor swimming pool, tennis courts, and a shooting range.
Construction began on October 28, 2007, under a contract with the China Yunnan Construction Engineering Group Corporation. The cost of construction is more than US$80 million and has been arranged through a joint cooperation project between the Lao government and the China Development Bank.
The upgrading of other facilities, including indoor and football stadiums to be used for competition and training, is also in progress.
Meanwhile, work has finished on a new sports training centre on an 11-hectare site in Sikeud village, Naxaithong district.
The centre cost more than 35 billion kip (US$4 million) to build, financed by grant aid from the government of Vietnam . An opening ceremony will be held on January 18.
The centre comprises an office, sleeping quarters for athletes, a running track and playing field, a football pitch, a gymnasium and other facilities for sporting events. Up to 200 athletes will be able to train there every day.
Construction is also in progress on the athletes' village, which is located on a 42,000sqm site at the Dongdok campus, National University of Laos. It is scheduled for completion in August.
By Sisay Vilaysack
