T

he Public Works and Housing Ministry, which is overseeing the construction of venues for the jet ski and sailing events at the upcoming Asian Games, is confident that the projects will be completed on schedule despite only having just entered the early stages of construction.

With less than six months to go before the commencement of Asia’s biggest sporting event, the projects recorded 2.71 percent completion as of Saturday, the ministry reported.

“Everything is under control in line with the plan and [will be on] schedule as long as there is no major disruption that forces us to stop,” the ministry’s director for building management and environment Iwan Suprijanto said recently.

The contract signing ceremony for the venues’ construction was held in December and the projects were expected to be completed in August. Iwan predicted the projects could be completed in June so that there would be enough time for the organizers to test the venues prior to the Games.

The venue for sailing uses 1.2 hectares of vacant land in the western part of Ancol in North Jakarta. The jet ski venue, which uses a similar amount of space, is being built offshore near the northern part of the Mercure Hotel on Indah Beach.

The venues will be equipped with docks and other supporting facilities. A media room, athlete drug testing building and spectator stands are also being built.

The construction of the two venues is expected to cost Rp 172 billion (US$12.6 million).

“We expect that next month we will start constructing the supporting facilities for the sailing venue,” Iwan said.

While maintaining confidence that the ongoing projects will be completed on schedule and assuring that the time frame has been thoroughly considered, the Indonesia Asian Games Organizing Committee (INASGOC) has pushed the contractor to hasten progress.

INASGOC’s director for venues Arlan Lukman said the push was needed as the commencement of the quadrennial sporting event drew closer.

“We don’t have the authority to order acceleration, we can only push to complete the construction,” Arlan said.

The two venues have made the least construction progress and is far behind the progress of other venues. Eighty two venues in Jakarta, West Java and South Sumatra’s capital Palembang are being prepared to host the continent’s largest sporting festival.

Meanwhile, the renovation of 15 venues in Gelora Bung Karno sporting complex in Central Jakarta have been completed, according to the ministry.

Sailing and Jet Skiing were not among the sports played at the Asian Games Invitation Tournament last week as the venues were not ready.

Meanwhile, city-owned PT. Pembangunan Jaya Ancol, which operates Ancol Taman Impian, expressed confidence that the Asian Games would promote the recreational park, particularly to foreign tourists.

Jaya Ancol spokesperson Rika Lestari said she planned to involve Indonesian athletes in the annual underwater flag-waving show in August, which coincides with independence day.

“We have also prepared several new underwater attractions,” she said.

Ancol is a popular tourist attraction in Jakarta. It regularly attracts 10,000 to 20,000 visitors on weekdays and 50,000 on weekends. The figure could double during long holidays.

“We really welcome the Games as it will help promote Ancol to a wider audience,” Rika said.