ORGANIZERS of the 25th Southeast Asian Games in Laos, which will be hosting the games for the first time, said they need at least two more months to complete the construction of the venues and other facilities.
This was according to Deputy Prime Minister and chairman of the 25th SEA Games Organizing Committee Somsavat Lengsavad and senior LNSC officials following an ocular inspection they conducted on the main stadium, the golf course, the main access roads and the Athletes’ Village.
Work was supposed to be finished by March, but according to the Games’ official Web site, the Chinese and Korean companies involved in the construction work are having a difficult time completing the job at the main venue in the Saythany district.
The foreign contractors said the delay was caused by several factors, one of which is the dry summer season, which is not suitable for growing grass inside the football stadium. The grass will only be planted in June, which is the start of the rainy season.
Also, the land around the golf course have yet to be cleared because “some people have yet to leave their homes to make way for the construction.”
Lao Golf Federation president Songkham Silaphets said the course would be completed in May, “as long as plans don’t change.”
Meanwhile, the access road is reportedly 75 percent complete and will be landscaped by May, while engineers from the two companies said it is also difficult to dig drainage channels and install electricity around the main stadium and other venues, prompting Somsavat to ask the Ministry of Public Works and Transport committee to cooperate with the contractors regarding these problems.
More than 400 Lao workers are involved in the construction at a cost of more than $100 million.
A ceremony to hand over the stadium to the Lao government will take place in September.
The 25 events of the 2009 SEA Games to be held in Vientiane in December will be scattered around the eight stadiums. Peter Atencio
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