K450m to run Games

THE PNG Pacific Games Association has acknowledged the concerns of Pacific Games Council president Vidya Lakhan but is hopeful that they will be able to host the 2015 Games in Port Moresby.
Secretary-general of the PNG Sports Federation and Olympic Committee Auvita Rapilla in responding to Lakhan’s comments accepted that little in tangible infrastructure development had been started since winning the bid to host the games over two years ago.
Rapilla said the country was still capable of hosting the Games but would need to re-evaluate its plans and redefine its priorities.
She said the directive from the Finance and Treasury department was for a games budget of K450 million which is just over a third of an initial figure of K1.25 billion which many expected would be needed to build a new stadium and Games Village.  
“As the PNG Pacific Games Association, we’re members of the Pacific Games Council and its critical for us to take heed of the message that’s coming from the Pacific Games Council.
“Obviously with two years gone, we’ve only got three years left to put  the things into place for the Pacific games.
“That is a message to us to re-look at our plans and evaluate them and we have to confirm with the government in terms of the actual overall budget for the games so that the committees can plan accordingly for the games,” Rapilla said.
She said funding to start preparations was released last year with the K20 million already with the PNG Sports Foundation trust account and a further K180 million ready to be drawn from the Treasury this year.
This amount according to Rapilla is adequate for their plans for 2012.
It was also revealed that the cost of building a stadium and the accommodation for visiting athletes and officials was not part of the Games budget – the government is to build those two facilities separately from the Games budget.
Crucial to commencement of work is the need to appoint committees to oversee work, in particular the Pacific Games Authority, which is an oversight committee formed by legislation, and the venues, infrastructure and equipment committee (VIEC), whose members are appointed by the government.
The Pacific Games Authority was established by an Act of Parliament on Sept 6 last year.
The composition of the Authority must follow the guidelines of the host city contract which the PNG Pacific Games Association along with the government and the Pacific Games Council signed in September  2009.
The host city contract requires the Authority to be made up of three members of the PNG Pacific Games Association, three representatives of the government and one member of the Pacific Games Council.
According to Rapilla the legislation passed last September does not fulfil the host city contract.
“The legislation passed on Sept6, 2011, apparently does not have the full composition required by the host contract,” Rapilla said.
“The government has made a decision to have only one PGA rep.
“We have written to the Sports Minister and the Games Council has also written to the prime minister asking them to honour the host contract so that we have three government representatives along with the three from the PGA.
“The host contract reflects the Pacific Games Council charter and it is important to remember that the Games belong to the Pacific Games Council so we must respect that.
“That is something we are negotiating with the government to honour.”