CWG Village to be ready by March 2010: Sports Ministry

New Delhi, Aug 4 (PTI) Legal tangles might have caused
some delay but more than half of the construction work at the
Commonwealth Games Village is over and the facility would be
ready in March next year, the Union Sports Ministry said on
Tuesday.

"56 per cent of the Commonwealth Games Village project is
over and it will be completed by March 31, 2010," Minister of
State for Youth Affairs and Sports Pratik Prakashbapu Patil
said in response to a question in the Lok Sabha (Lower House
of Indian Parliament).

"The progress of work at Commonwealth Games Village is
monitored closely at various levels including Ministry of
Youth Affairs and Sports, CWG Organising Committee, Lt
Governor and Chief Minister, Delhi. It is also monitored in
the Co-ordination Committee meetings and also in weekly
co-ordination at DDA's level," he added.

The construction at the village site, which is close to
the Yamuna river bed, had been challenged in the Delhi High
Court which constituted a panel to study its ecological
effect.

But the Supreme Court of India recently gave the go ahead
for construction.

The Minister also assured that the Games' venues would be
world-class.

"For 17 disciplines of CWG-2010, 12 venues will be
developed as competition venues and various venue-owning
agencies Sports Authority of India, Delhi Development
Authority, Government of NCT of Delhi, University of Delhi are
spending considerable funds for developing these as world
class venues," he said.

"For the preparation of trainees and of the competition
venues for CWG-2010, government has allocated Rs 2460 crores
to SAI, which will help in the creation of state-of-the-art
facilities," Patil said.

"An amount of Rs 1770 crore has been allocated by the
Planning Commission to the government of NCT of Delhi for
improvement in the city infrastructure which includes,
substantial amount for beautification of Delhi. In addition to
these, New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and Municipal
Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will also spend considerable amount
from their own resources for sports and civic infrastructure,"
he said.

Patil also gave details of the upgradation being carried
out at the various Sports Authority of India (SAI) centers
across the country.

"Upgradation of facilities in these centres in the form
of civil amenities, play fields and staff welfare measures
have been carried out," he said.

"Government provides financial assistance to SAI to set
up state-of-the-art sports training facilities for the
training of national athletes. On an average, SAI spends
around Rs 30 crore annually for the infrastructure development
at various SAI centres," he added. PTI PM
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