Commonwealth Games venues reach finish lines

Besides stadia, all metro rail links are also likely to be ready for use by Sep 2010

The stage seems to be set for the Commonwealth Games, scheduled to be hosted in October 2010, with the venues getting ready to be handed over to committees from January. About Rs 3,500 crore worth of repair and renovation works at Delhi stadia are expected to be completed by June.

Besides stadia, all metro rail links being planned to facilitate the movement during the Games are also likely to be ready for use by September 2010. “The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Central Public Works Department (CPWD) have carried out civil and electrical repair works at eight venues that will host 13 events during the Games. Discussions are now on to arrive at an agreement on handing over each of these venues to a venue committee,” said Urban Development Secretary M Ramachandran.

CPWD was working on five stadia — Jawaharlal Nehru, Major Dhyanchand, Indira Gandhi Indoor, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and Karnail Singh. Of these, Karnail Singh and Major Dhyanchand stadia would be handed over in January, while work on Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium was expected to be completed by February. While Shyama Prasad Mukherjee stadium would be ready in March, the last one to be handed over would be Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, as an additional trench was being constructed there, said Ramachandran.

DDA, a civic body under the urban development ministry, is responsible for works at the Games Village, coming up on the Yamuna banks and Siri Fort and Yamuna Sports Complexes. All the three venues will be ready by March. CPWD is spending about Rs 2,500 crore on the job, while DDA projects involve an expenditure of Rs 1,000 crore, excluding the Games Village, which is being constructed under the public private partnership (PPP) model. Besides these two bodies, the Delhi government is working on Tyagraj stadium, while New Delhi Municipal Corporation is in charge of the Talkatora Indoor Stadium. Delhi Lawn Tennis Association and the University of Delhi are undertaking works at two more venues that will be used for the Games.

Speaking about the metro links, Ramachandran said the Yamuna Bank-Anand Vihar link in East Delhi was expected to start operations this month, while the Qutab Minar-Gurgaon link in the south would be ready by March 2010.