The Commonwealth Games Federation chief said yesterday there was still work to be done amid concerns about security before India’s showcase event starts next week, but that it would go ahead with all countries taking part.
Several athletes have pulled out of an event plagued by filthy accommodation, shoddy construction and security fears. The Indian government is rushing against time to ensure everything is ready before the opening next Sunday.
“There is still a lot of work to be done and it’s not over yet,” Michael Fennell told a press conference a day after he visited the Games village. “What is of great concern is the safety and security of athletes and officials. There will be full participation in the Games. All 71 countries will be attending.”
PHOTO: REUTERS
Scottish athletes began traveling to Delhi yesterday, while Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Northern Ireland and Wales have all confirmed that they are satisfied enough with preparations to send their teams.
The Games, held every four years for mostly former British colonies, are estimated to have cost US$6 billion. Asia’s third-largest economy was awarded them in 2003, but did not begin proper preparations until two years ago.
India had hoped to use the Games to display its growing global economic and political influence, rivaling neighbor China, which put on a spectacular 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Instead, they have become a major embarrassment for the world’s largest democracy where infrastructure projects have remained slow paced and a drag on economic growth.
“A lot of damage has been done to India as a country,” Fennell said.
Moody’s rating agency said investment in India could be damaged as a result.
“The negative publicity could deter foreign investment and give multinational businesses considering expanding in India reason to think twice,” Moody’s Analytics, a unit of the rating agency, said in a research note.
The first batch of athletes arrived in India on Friday, opting to stay at a hotel instead of unfinished accommodation.
English athletes stayed at hotels on Friday, but planned to move to the village yesterday.
Desperate officials on Friday asked the Indian Army to build a temporary bridge to replace the US$1.1 million footbridge that collapsed on Tuesday. The bridge, providing access to the main Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, should be finished within five days.
The bridge collapse and a suspected militant attack on two Taiwanese visitors had thrown the Games into crisis.
Fennell said the work that needed to be done was quite extensive.
“These center around the clean-up of the village ... You can see where there has been water in the basement and this has proven very difficult to remove,” he said. “There are matters relating to transport, and difficulties there, the security arrangements, the fire safety arrangements, evacuation of the buildings and certification of the buildings, the technological difficulties, such as the wifi service.”
The Delhi Games may turn out to be the most compromised since a 1986 boycott of the Games in Britain, when 32 nations stayed away because of then British prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s objections to sanctions against Apartheid-riven South Africa.
Cyclist Greg Henderson became the first New Zealand athlete to withdraw over concerns about health and security. Olympic cycling champion Geraint Thomas, two English riders and one Isle of Man rider also opted out of the Games, but the event seems to be coming together amid talk that India’s huge market potential meant countries could not stay away.
“India’s cash and clout soften tough stand,” read a front-page article in yesterday’s Times of India newspaper, noting India was Australia’s third-largest export market and an important market for Canadian goods as well.
British Prime Minister David Cameron led a delegation of ministers, business executives and sports personalities to India in July to show his country was serious about boosting economic exchanges.
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