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alembang, the capital of South Sumatra, and the main host city for the 26th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games is witnessing a last-minute scramble to finish seven construction projects in time for the start of the Games in November.

Officially appointed as one of the two SEA Games cohost cities, along with Jakarta, in October last year by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Palembang was set the daunting challenge of preparing itself for the international event within one year.

Palembang and the central government committed themselves to finishing all of the Games’ venues by July this year. However, it is now August and construction is still underway on seven of the sport venues.

The Games will run from Nov. 11-22, host 545 events spanning 42 sports, and attract 6,000 athletes and officials, with 4,501 medals up for grabs. Greater Jakarta will host 22 sports, and Palembang 20.

Palembang began construction on Jakabaring Sports City on a 300-hectare plot of land just outside of Palembang.

However, with three months to go until the event begins, Palembang is still struggling to finish seven venues, which Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng has promised would be ready for use in September.

Rizal Abdullah, head of South Sumatra public works office, said that his team was racing against time to finish the venues.

“We are still working on seven venues, including for baseball, softball, wall-climbing and roller-skating. However, the three venues for athletics, aquatics and shooting are in critical condition in terms of construction,” Rizal told the press while visiting the swimming venue in Jakabaring Sports City on Wednesday.

Despite the delay, Rizal, who overseas all construction work in Jakabaring, said he was convinced the organizers would complete the construction in time.

“The aquatic venue is 70 percent done. With some more mold and finishing work, the venue building should be ready by, hopefully, the end of this month.

“Then, I think we will have a pool and the additional infrastructure by mid September,” he said, adding that rainy weather had contributed to the delays.

Rizal added that the Italian-made knock-down pool had reached Palembang port. “By the time the pool gets here [Jakabaring], we will only need a few days for the installation.”

As for the athletics venue, Rizal said, all that his team had left to do was install the venue’s roof and place the synthetic track.

“Meanwhile, the shooting venue is physically ready. We just need to do finishing work, and then it will be quick. The shooting equipment is another division’s responsibility,” he said.

He said that part of the reason he was optimistic was that all of the materials needed to finish all of the venues were already in Palembang.

Andi said that there had been positive progress of late, despite some setbacks. He added that the venues had received approval from most of the technical delegates who visited the sports city last week, adding that all of the venues complied with international standards.

However, Indonesian SEA Games Organizing Committee (INASOC) chairwoman Rita Subowo said that her team had received complaints during a meeting with the technical delegates.

“Some of them asked about the unfinished venues, while Malaysia complained about several events in cycling. However, we are optimistic the problems will soon be sorted.”

Rita said that the chefs de mission’s (heads of contingent) meeting, scheduled for Aug. 18, would be a crucial moment for the Games preparations.