Tkatchenko reassures Parliament on Games

 PACIFIC Games Minister Justin Tkatchenko says the country will be ready to host the games in July.

Usino-Bundi MP Anton Yagama asked him in Parliament yesterday whether a report in The National yesterday quoting him that some venues for the Games would be built in stages was true. Yagama said Tkatchenko had been assuring the nation that all the facilities would be ready by July.

“If this quotation (in the newspaper report) is correct, this is the first time that the minister has told us that some of the facilities will be built in stages. This was never mentioned before,” he said.

Tkatchenko said newspapers put “outstanding and controversial headlines to sell papers”. 

“The situation is that the Games will be ready as I’ve stated time and time again,” he said.

“On the issues of the stages for the sporting stadiums, that’s referring to Hubert Murray Stadium. The first stage will be completed with the grandstand ready for rugby union and rugby league to be played there. The second stage will be completed after the Games.”

He said the ministry only had two-and-a-half years to make the Games possible.

“The games were awarded nearly six years ago and the previous government sat on it until the O’Neill Government got on to it. We are moving full steam ahead. The facilities will be ready,” he said. 

He questioned the motive of the people criticising the Games preparations.