"All venues must be completed by the end of June based on the schedule. What has been done until now and what is yet to be completed are still in accordance with the plan," Vice President Jusuf Kalla said.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - With less than four months left, Indonesia is racing against time to complete all sports venues for the 18th Asian Games to be held in Jakarta and Palembang, South Sumatra, on August 18-September 2, 2018.

"All venues must be completed by the end of June based on the schedule. What has been done until now and what is yet to be completed are still in accordance with the plan," Vice President Jusuf Kalla noted while reviewing the yachting venue at the Ancol Marina Beach, North Jakarta, on Friday afternoon.

Vice President Kalla, who is also chairman of the 18th Asian Games Steering Committee, visited several venues for the Asian Games in Jakarta and Bekasi. Developers of all venues of the largest Asian sporting event that Kalla visited have made assurance that they will be ready in mid-June.

"All developers of the venues we reviewed have promised to make them ready based on the schedule, and we will see that they are all ready on time, though some construction work is behind schedule," he revealed.

Hence, Kalla has urged all developers to accelerate the construction of the venues.

"The planning and implementation are somewhat delayed, but the completion date should not surpass early July, so three months from now," Kalla stated.

Apart from reviewing the yachting and skiing venues at Ancol Beach, Kalla also conducted an inspection of the renovation of stadiums for holding soccer matches at the Asian Games in Bekasi, West Java.

Kiagoos Egie Ismail, the planning bureau chief for the development of strategic buildings of the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing, confirmed that his side had been focusing on completing several venues for the Asian Games in Jakarta and West Java in July.

"So far, no significant obstacles have been encountered, and most problems can be handled well, but the most difficult one is completing these projects on time," Ismail noted during Kalla`s inspection of Bekasi to review the renovation of the Chandrabaga Patriot Soccer Stadium.

He remarked that the Bekasi City Stadium had been prioritized among several other stadium renovation projects in Jakarta and West Java.

The venues that are currently in the process of being renovated include the Patriot Chandrabaga Stadium in Bekasi City, Wijawa Mukti Stadium in Bekasi District, Pakansari Stadium in Bogor District, Harupat Jalak Stadium in Bandung District, and Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta.

"These stadiums are included in Zone 1 for the handling of soccer stadium renovation work," he stated.

He added that the Padjadjaran Stadium and ITB Sabuga Stadium in Bandung have been included in Zone 2. Two other venues for paragliding are Kano in Malalengka and Gunung Mas, Puncak of Bogor. All renovation projects, except for the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, are in West Java Province.

Ismail noted that the venues were being renovated on a small scale through funding from the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing.

"However, the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium was renovated using substantial funds, while the rest only need slight renovation to add the necessary facilities, as the stadiums are still new," he explained.

"So far, the work on these projects is still in progress, and we hope they would be completed in July 2018," he stated.

In principle, all venues should have been completed by July, as the largest Asian sporting event will take place from August 18, 2018.

The Indonesian government has made assurance that all venues for the Asian Games 2018 will be completed by June 2018, 100 days before the pan Asian multi-sport event begins on Aug 18.

"Surely, we have committed ourselves to readying all venues in Jakarta, Bung Karno Sports Stadium, and Jakabaring Sports Stadium in Palembang in June, regardless of whether they are the responsibility of the provincial governments or the Ministry of Public Works and Housing," Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Puan Maharani had stated early this month (Apr 3).

Maharani confirmed she had coordinated with the provincial governments and ministry for completing the construction of the venues.

"God willing, infrastructure development is 90 percent complete. Hopefully, all venues would be ready 100 days before it begins," she remarked.

It will be the second time that Indonesia will host the Asian Games this year. Indonesia had hosted the Asian sporting event for the first time in 1962, the fourth one after the Asian Games were first organized in New Delhi, India, in 1951.

At the 18th Asian Games to be held in August, Indonesia has set a target to rank among the top 10 in the medals tally.

During the 4th Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, as the host, was the runner-up, with 21 gold, 26 silver, and 30 bronze medals, behind Japan that emerged as the overall champion, with 73 gold, 65 silver, and 23 bronze medals.

The 18th Asian Games 2018, to be attended by 45 countries, will feature 462 events of 40 sports of which 32 are Olympic sports and eight are non-Olympic sports.

The Olympic sports are Aquatics, Athletics, Fencing, Weightlifting, Basketball, Handball, Badminton, Baseball/Softball, Cycling, Equestrian, Golf, Wrestling, Hockey, Judo, Karate, Canoeing and Kayaking, Sailing, Shooting, Modern Pentathlon, Archery, Sport climbing, Rowing, Rugby, Gymnastics, Skateboarding, Football, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Boxing, Triathlon, and Volleyball.

The non-Olympic sports are Bowling; Bridge; Cricket; Kabaddi; Martial Arts, such as Jujitsu, Kurash, Pencak Silat, Sambo, and Wushu; Mechanical Sports, such as Paragliding and Jet skiing; Squash; and Sepak Takraw.

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Reporter: Andi Abdussalam
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2018