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Race to the Games

TEN and Foxtel are very nervous New Delhi may not fulfill its promises on the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

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commonwealth-games-logoNetwork TEN and Foxtel representatives have dashed to New Delhi on an unscheduled visit this week nervous that organisers of the 2010 Commonwealth Games are alarmingly behind schedule.

The team leader for Channel TEN and Foxtel, Bob Kemp, told The Australian in New Delhi yesterday that the broadcasters “clearly have some issues with some areas and that’s why we’re here for discussions”.

“We’re taking the opportunity to meet various members from the organising committee across a whole range of issues from accommodation to technology, venue preparedness and security,” Kemp said.

“We’re a little more nervous about some things than we are about others.”

The event’s main private developer is said to be in financial strife and the cash-strapped state of Delhi announced this week it would be forced to put all non-Games infrastructure projects on hold.

Accommodation for the anticipated flood of international visitors for the event is also under a cloud, the Delhi Development Authority conceding this week that only one-third of the promised new 6000 hotel rooms would be ready on time.

Plans to build six new hotels in the capital have reportedly been scrapped because of the current financial crisis.

Security remains a key issue in the wake of the November Mumbai bombings, which are understood to have forced a major review of previous arrangements.

The fate of the Games village is also under a cloud after Dubai-based developer Emaar MGF was reported to have approached the DDA for a financial bailout.

The locations for the Games’ main venues are also in doubt. Environmental cases are pending over the alleged illegal destruction of more than 1000 trees to build squash and basketball courts and the construction of the Games village on the Yamuna River floodplain, in contravention of an environmental assessment that found it would cause serious flooding and effect Delhi’s already dwindling water supply.

Source: The Australian

2 Responses

  1. I hope the games are in Melbourne again, because I might catch a plane down to see some events.

    I can see how the Commonwealth Games was trying to be like the Olympic Games by holding them in an up and coming country with a lot of people, but if the facilities aren’t ready there’s no use holding them there.

    After all the problems with the world T20 club finals last year, you thought India would have done all they can to try and make the Commonwealth Games successful.

  2. The Commonwealth Games is quickly drifting into irrelevance.

    For example, in 2006, no major Canadian newspaper there even bothered to send a journalist out here.

    Aussies did care in 2006 – because it was in Melbourne. I suspect there may be some interest in 2010 only for the Australia/England rivalry stemming from the 2008 Olympics (even though ‘we’ technically beat England… but not GB).

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