Red Tape gone, let’s move on!

IT seems PNG is at last on the path to making some headway into the enormous task of getting ready for the 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby.
Yesterday, parliament finally passed crucial amendments to the Pacific Games Authority Act which would allow the Pacific Games Authority Board and PNG Pacific Games Association (PNG PGA), through the Games Organising Committee (GOC) and the all important Venues Infrastructure and Implementation Committee (VIEC), to begin preparations in earnest.
Public Service Minister Bart Philemon, who is also minister responsible for the 2015 Games, introduced the amendments during a sitting which aligns the legislation with the Pacific Games Council (PGC) charter.
This was apparently a sticking point for the PGC which owns the Pacific Games brand and enters into contractual agreements with any host nation.
The Act now ensures that the PGC charter is adhered to by meeting the provisions for the number of state, PNG PGA and PGC representatives.
Now that all the required bureaucratic red tape is out of the way, we hope the momentum shift can be felt immediately and changes are instituted in the coming weeks to our dilapidated, ailing and in many cases non-existent sporting infrastructure in the nation’s capital.
The PNG PGA maintains that the two biggest projects and as such their priority areas ahead of the Games are the Games Village accommodation for visiting contingents and the main athletics stadium. Both these projects are the responsibility of the government and it is still incumbent on the political will of the people in power, whoever they may be, to get them started as soon as possible.
There are a whole array of facilities Port Moresby does not have and the cost of building from scratch will ensure the a sizable chunk of allocated funds are used up.
For instance, the city does not have an international standard soccer field, a rugby league and union stadium, a hockey turf pitch, more than one Olympic-size swimming pool, proper venues to host combat sports, weightlifting and powerlifting, softball and netball.
The main track and field stadium at the Sir John Guise complex is in such a state of disrepair that it would be laughable for anyone to even consider it as a serious candidate for a national event.
We know for a fact that not an ounce of Pacific Games-related work has been done on any of the aforementioned code’s facilities in the past 24 months.
As the sole host of the Games, Port Moresby must undergo, over the next 12 months, changes to its physical landscape that will see construction on a scale unheard of in the city’s
100-year history.
The work that went into preparations for the 1991 South Pacific Games, as substantial as it was, will pale significantly in comparison to the mark we want to reach in a little over three years.
We have been set a benchmark on the quality and standard of a Pacific Games last year in Noumea, New Caledonia.
Can Port Moresby deliver an event that will rival Noumea for its brand new facilities?
That is a debatable point with the Port Moresby Games budget decidedly less than what many pundits estimated would be a par score for a course such as the PNG capital.
With a budget of K450 million, it may well be that PNG will only be able to offer a no-frills event that will provide competitors, fans, television viewers and the media (local and international) the basics but not much more.
Considering the fact that K1.2 billion was a figure many thought would be sufficient to host a Pacific Games on, PNG would be doing well to pull off the 2015 event with less than half that amount.
In the overall picture, with VIEC and GOC up against it in terms of time and resources, a show that meets the minimum requirements for an international sporting event is what we may have to re-set our sights on.
While Papua New Guineans may by giddy and expectant at the thought of hosting the Pacific region’s premier sporting event, it will pay in the long run to be clear to citizens, service providers and visitors just what to expect and, more importantly, what not to expect.