7th PNG Games plan set

PAPUA New Guinea Sports Foundation chief executive officer Peter Tsiamalili Jr assured the country yesterday that the 7th PNG Games in Kimbe, West New Britain would go ahead as scheduled from Nov 18 to Dec 2.
The national sporting event which was originally scheduled for mid-2016 was deferred twice and shifted to the final quarter of 2017 after clashes with the 2016 Fifa Under-20 Women’s World Cup and this year’s national elections.
With 81 days remaining before the opening ceremony, Tsiamalili encouraged all 22 provinces to finalise their preparations and attend the event.
Tsiamalili, who is also chairman of the PNG Games Council, met with Prime Minister and Sports Minister Peter O’Neill on Monday to confirm the delivery of the games.
Regarding sporting infrastructure, Tsiamalili confirmed that all satellite venues such as Kulungi, the West New Britain Soccer Academy, the rugby league field, Kapore, Hoskins and Sarakolok in the host province had been completed except the main venue, the Sam Remo stadium, which required final touches before completion.
“There was an issue with the previous contractors in the main venue San Remo but it has been resolved by the West New Britain government,” Tsiamalili said.
“There is a new contractor KNP Construction (Korea and PNG Construction) who will complete the remaining part of the stadium which is the track and the VIP boxes, but the whole precinct is basically ready.
“We are on target but we just need to get the last work done which should be completed by Oct 31,” Tsiamalili said.
He said the previous contractor Nirvani Construction could not complete the project after issues with the host organisers and the provincial government which resulted in the ending of their partnership.
Tsiamalili said their only challenge was taking 350 technical officials to the province to ensure facilitation of the games.
“We sought the support of the Government and Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has taken care of it.”
PNG Games Sports Desk Secretariat head John Susuve, the PNGSF’s man on the ground in Kimbe, said work had progressed well after the deferrals.
His team had been collecting information and up-skilling volunteers and running workshops.
Susuve said the accreditation deadline was Sept 31 and all participating provinces were have their teams documented and cleared by then.
He said some provinces that pulled out at the beginning of the year due to uncertainty coupled with the cost of maintaining their team preparations had re-confirmed their participation however there was still doubt over East Sepik.
Susuve confirmed that 12 provinces had paid their bond fees for accommodation and others were encouraged to do so before the deadline of Sept 30.
Provinces which have paid are Bougainville, East New Britain, Oro, Madang, New Ireland, Central, NCD, Jiwaka, Manus, Eastern Highlands, West Sepik and Morobe.