Hambantota bid praised by Comm Games officials

Commonwealth Games officials on Thursday praised the bid from the Sri Lankan port town of Hambantotato host the multi-sport event in 2018.

 

Sri Lanka�s southern port town Hambantota and Australia�s Gold Coast are theonly bidders for the 2018 event, having lodged their bids with the CommonwealthGames Federation in Kuala Lumpur last month.

 

�We have been impressed with the vision for SriLanka and Hambantota and now have a clear view of where the hosting ofthe Commonwealth Games could fit within that vision,� said Louise Martine, thehead of the evaluation commission, at the end of a four-day evaluation visit.

 

She said the proposal of staging the Commonwealth Games in Hambantota is an �excitingone and, given the development of the relevant infrastructure, will provide aunique games experience for the athletes and other games client groups.�

 

The commission�s visit to Sri Lanka follows last week�s visit to the morefancied Gold Coast in Australia, which has most of its sporting infrastructurein place as opposed to Hambantota which is still in its planning stage. Itemerged on the sporting scene only this year when it hosted two World Cupcricket matches.

 

It lies on Sri Lanka�s southern coast � an area that was severely damaged inthe 2004 tsunami � and has no international airport and no internationalhotels.

 

Much of the landscape is still covered by thick forests and lush ricefields.

 

Martine said her officials met the people in Hambantota and those involvedin developing the city.

 

�We noted substantial progress and have no doubt about the resolve todeliver the necessary infrastructure by 2016,� she said. �The leadership shownby the national and district governments is impressive. The alignment ofagencies around the national, regional and games vision is equally impressive.�

 

The commission will release its report on the two bid cities by Oct. 11, amonth before the vote to select the host at the federation�s general assemblyin St. Kitts and Nevis.

 

Sri Lanka hopes to spend up to $6 billion on games projects, a colossal sumfor a country that is still recovering from a 26-year civil war.

 

Ajith Nivad Cabral, the governor of Sri Lanka�s central bank and co-chairmanof the Commonwealth bidding committee assured that the country is up to thetask of making all its plans real.

 

�We want to assure you not only we are showing you what�s here on paper andwhat�s here on a model, but we have got on our hearts the desire and the willto make it happen,� he said. �We will deliver all our promises.� AP reports.