Four years after it was appointed as the host of the 2018 Asian Games at the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) meeting, Indonesia has now entered the last leg of preparations. On Saturday, Aug. 18, 2018, the Asian multi-sports competition will kick off.
By
·5 minutes read
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Four years after it was appointed as the host of the 2018 Asian Games at the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) meeting, Indonesia has now entered the last leg of preparations. On Saturday, Aug. 18, 2018, the Asian multi-sports competition will kick off.
By Sunday (12/8/2018), six days before the opening ceremony, physical construction on the venues finished. The main arena is the Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) sports complex in Senayan, Jakarta, and the Jakabaring Sports City (JSC) in Palembang, South Sumatra. Other venues are located elsewhere Jakarta and West Java, including Bekasi, Cikarang, Bogor, Bandung, Subang and Majalengka.
At least Rp 4 trillion has been allocated toward renovating and upgrading the GBK complex, which was originally built to host the 1962 Asian Games. Vice President Jusuf Kalla said that along with renovating the JSC, developing the LRT connecting to Palembang’s Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International Airport and other construction work, the total budget could reach Rp 30 trillion.
The construction work’s completion, which had caused concerns earlier over a possible delay at some venues, has raised optimism that Indonesia is capable of hosting the event. Yet, the Indonesia Asian Games 2018 Organizing Committee (Inasgoc) faces another challenge at the last minute, racing against time to provide equipment and other supporting facilities.
The POPKI sport hall in Cibubur, which will hold the handball qualifier on Monday, for example, still lacks lights and warm-up tents for athletes.
It had been promised that the 1,500 lux light intensity booster for broadcasting would arrive on Friday, but it still had not been installed on Sunday night. “We will continue with the matches as scheduled,” said Handball Court manager Amarta Imron.
The warm-up tents for athletes had also not been erected. However, Amarta promised that the tents would be completed by Sunday evening for use by the first game between India and Taiwan.
In addition, the practice area at the GBK is not ready, with the flooring and goals still left to be installed. “We expect the GBK will be completed. After the [Games] starts, the athletes must be able to practice there,” said Amarta.
Ongoing renovations
Final touches are being made to the renovations at Bulungan sports hall, the volleyball venue. The sports hall, which was only recently designated as an Asian Games venue, has begun installing new equipment. It will be tested on Monday before it opens its doors to athlete training on Aug. 16.
On Saturday (11/8), workers were seen still proceeding with the renovations. Volleyball arena manager Akhmad Juniarto said that the limited capacity of the gallery and arena could trigger a protest from the delegates over its appropriateness.
The JIExpo Kemayoran arena for weightlifting, which starts on Aug. 19, finally neared completion on Sunday, two days behind schedule. Weightlifting arena manager Sony Kasiran said renovations to the arena was 80 percent complete. The committee had installed mats, a warm-up room and practice equipment. “The work is now focused on erecting the stage, the gallery, athlete toilets and locker rooms,” he said.
At the Rentang Dam in Majalengka, the supporting facilities for canoeing were not yet finished.
The steels plates for the barrier lining the 260-meter rowing course had not all been installed; neither had the tire barricades around the curves, the lack of which could harm the canoes.
Rudiadi Wahidin, canoe slalom event head, said work on the course was almost finished with only around 10 percent remaining, such as the viewing gallery and the goal area, which was expected to be finished soon. The watercourse contains sedimentation and trash from upstream excavations.
Meanwhile in Bandung, West Java Youth and Sports Agency head Yudha M Saputra assured that the Si Jalak Harupat Stadium in Bandung was ready for the Group C and E soccer matches.
Yudha also promised that the time it would take athletes to travel from their accommodation in Bandung, located around 20 km away, would take only 15 minutes. “The team will be guarded by a police escort and will take the Soreang-Pasirkoja tollroad exit in front of the stadium,” he said.
Meanwhile, Inasgoc venues and environment director Arlan Lukman said that as soon as the construction was 100 percent ready, all supporting facilities would be completed on schedule. Without supporting facilities, a sports arena would be akin to a house without appliances.
In general, the overlay phase for providing supporting facilities was at 60 percent completion. However, Arlan said, this did not mean that all venues were not ready. “Most of the venues are ready. The others are still unfinished, because they are scheduled for later use,” he said.
Arlan said the work was being carried out in stages for efficiency, primarily for renting supporting equipment. Some equipment were limited in number, such as portable bleachers, barriers, sound systems, lighting and air conditioning, and would be rotated between events.
In general, the overlay phase at each venue is to commence on D-10, or 10 days before the actual event. The transportation and installment of the equipment are to be completed on D-5, followed with a trial run two days later, so athletes can use the venue to practice two days before the event. “This is the standard operational procedure set by the OCA,” said Arlan.
The OCA guideline states that technological devices such as computers, censors and large-screen monitors should be installed five days before an event to anticipate any glitches or malfunction.