Donald: Games work on target

 THE 2015 Pacific Games Venue Infrastructure, Equipment Committee says there has been significant progress in the past 12 months.

Committee deputy chairwoman Mel Donald said that after updating State departmental heads in their second ‘Whole of Government Approach’ seminar yesterday in Port Moresby.

Donald was impressed with progress in the past six months after Prime Minister Peter O’Neill  and Sports and Pacific Games Minister Justin Tkatchenko jumped in to force bureaucrats to fast-track processes and approvals.

“We have a good team of senior government officers who attend the weekly VIEC/Govt working team,” she said.

The team was established six months ago and has helped the committee in getting approvals ready for the National Executive Council to process promptly.

Donald said there were still ongoing issues with the Central Supply Tenders Board slow processing but she hopes that will be addressed tomorrow in a meeting with Tkatchenko.

The three major projects – Games Village, Taurama Aquatic and Indoor Complex and the Sir John Guise Stadium – are all now in construction phase, while the Rita Flynn netball courts design is progressing. Work on smaller venues  is about to start.

Donald said her committee was making sure they mitigated potential issues to avoid unnecessary delays to the delivery of Games projects. 

“We all need to work together to make sure that the Games is a success,” she said.