Sports to wait

 ALL Pacific Games venues and facilities will not be available for public use for another three months, Papua New Guinea Sports Foundation chief executive officer Peter Tsiamalili Jr says. 

The muli-million kina Taurama Aquatic Centre, Sir John Guise Stadium and Indoor Complex, as well as the Bisini Sports grounds, will undergo more construction work over the coming weeks as contractors use the remainder of the year to put the finishing touches on the facilities.

“Different venues have different timelines and areas to be completed for compliance with the PNG Olympic Committee and international standards,” Tsiamalili said.

“The work should be completed over the next two to three months. All that’s being done is finishing off any incomplete features.

“That includes correcting any defects that were identified during the Games. After that the Sports Foundation will sign off and receive them formally.

“There are contractual arrangements in place with the builders to complete the job. 

“You have to remember that the venues were made Games-ready for the Pacific Games but that did necessarily mean they were 100 per cent complete — only the parts (of the venues) that were needed to run competitions,” Tsiamalili, pictured, said.

“The Taurama Aquatic Centre’s interior still needs to be done.

“It’s not a lot work but it still needs to be done for compliance sake.

“The same goes for the Sir John Guise Stadium and Indoor complex and the Rita Flynn Netball Complex. There are areas that need completing at these venues.”

Tsiamalili said completing the work at the different venues would take at least two months, perhaps more, but he said it was necessary in order for the sports and the public to be able to use them fully afterwards.

“The Bisini Sports Complex is actually ready to be used but the fields need another six to eight weeks to recover from the heavy traffic it experienced during the Games. 

“We want the surfaces to be strong enough to take more traffic when sports start using them.

“Each venue will have a manager and this person will be responsible for making sure the venue or facility is maintained. 

“It may happen that some sports may have their own management structure in place to look facilities, so our involvement will be to ensure the common areas are all taken care of,” he said.  

Tsiamalili said the public would be able to use the venues towards the end of the year.

He said the venues would be leased to the codes by the Sports Foundation but the federations would need to demonstrate an ability to comply with a minimum set of standards in order manage their areas.

“All sports that use certain fields will be given the opportunity to control them.”

Some of the requirements for sports would be having good governance, a stategic plan, a sustainable financial plan and being able to generate revenue.  He said the PNGSF would work with the sports to back their development programmes.