TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsSo much to do, so little time for Asian Games
The execution of the 2018 Asian Games (Asiad) is likely to be far from extravagant, as unlike other countries that had at least five years for preparation, the central government and the city administration have less than two
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
The execution of the 2018 Asian Games (Asiad) is likely to be far from extravagant, as unlike other countries that had at least five years for preparation, the central government and the city administration have less than two.
After being selected to be the host because of Vietnam's retraction in 2014, neither party has done much in one year except argue over the division of jobs and venues.
Recently, the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry was given the task of revamping the Senayan Sports Complex and building an athletes village in Kemayoran, both in Central Jakarta. Those tasks were previously delegated to the Youth and Sports Ministry and the city administration, respectively.
The director of environment building management at the ministry's Cipta Karya directorate general, Ajar Prayudi, said in a press conference on Wednesday that the ministry would do its best to complete the renovations as fast as possible.
He said, however, that the ministry was still waiting for a presidential instruction for the projects. 'While waiting, we have been doing an initial assessment for the renovations, so they can be completed on time,' he said.
Ajar said Cipta Karya was ordered to renovate 14 sport venues in Senayan while the athletes village project would be conducted by the housing provision directorate general.
He said that because of the limited time, most of the venues would only be moderately renovated. 'They will be completed in June 2017,' he said, adding that the city would also hold a test event, the Asian Youth Games, next year, before the actual Asian Games in 2018.
The Asian Games were originally scheduled to take place in 2019, but were pushed forward to 2018 because of a presidential election scheduled for the following year. The games are slated to be held from Aug. 18 to Sept. 2, 2018. Besides Jakarta, where the main events will take place, Palembang in South Sumatra, West Java and Banten will also provide supporting venues.
Ajar said only two venues ' the Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) main stadium and the swimming pool ' would undergo major renovations.
'GBK will be the center of the main events [the opening and closing ceremonies] while the swimming pool currently does not fulfill Olympic standards,' he said, adding that it would be made into an indoor swimming pool.
He said that a team from the ministry was currently assessing infrastructure like drains, sewerage and electricity lines to determine what renovations were necessary for the 12 other venues.
Cipta Karya is also tasked with revamping the surrounding facilities like walkways, food courts, lavatories, playgrounds, outdoor gyms and fences.
'Based on our initial rough calculation, the whole project could cost up to Rp 2 trillion [US$148 million],' he said, adding that the money for the project would be allocated in the revised state budget as well as from funds from the budget previously allocated to the Youth and Sports Ministry that amounted to Rp 500 billion.
Meanwhile, the Jakarta governor's assistant on culture and tourism, Sylviana Murni, said that the city aimed to start the physical renovation work on the other sport halls in May.
The city is tasked with renovating several sport halls, including the velodrome in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, and the Britama Sports Hall in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, as well as sport halls in Ancol, North Jakarta, and Pulo Mas, East Jakarta.
'We have progressed a lot in the projects, especially related to the administrative matters,' she said.
Separately, sports observer Fritz Simanjuntak said that as long as the infrastructure could fulfill international standards, the event would go on.
Fritz said, however, that the main problem would be the quality of the event as the government was simply not ready.
'The government does not even have a strategic plan for the event,' he said, adding that the soccer competition was also in danger of being left out of the event as the Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) was still under sanction from FIFA, the world soccer governing body.
'It will be embarrassing if there is no soccer competition in the Asian Games,' he said.
With the limited time and tardy progress, Fritz compared the upcoming 2018 games to something at the level of a kenduri (a ritual feast in a kampung).
He said the even bigger question was what Indonesia could get from the event. 'We do not have a clear agenda. In a marketing perspective, we do not have product differentiation or clear branding,' he said.
Fritz compared Indonesia with South Korea, whose agenda was to introduce its economic development, and China, which showed off its technology at its sport venues. The public has criticized the initial design of the mascot, a cendrawasih (bird of paradise), saying that it was old-fashioned and uncreative. The Youth and Sports Ministry said that it would change it.
