CWG officials to visit H’tota for evaluation

THE Hambantota bid for the Commonwealth Games has been described as “virtual” by members of the Evaluation Commission, who admit the Gold Coast’s rival for the event can only be assessed on paper.

Commonwealth Games Federation Chief Executive Mike Hooper revealed the Evaluation Commission would only travel to Hambantota for one day during their visit to the country because there was just one venue built.

Hambantota and the Gold Coast are vying for the right to host the 2018 Games.

“We will be in Colombo for the briefings,” he said.

“But we will fly across and spend a full day there (in Hambantota) to get an idea about their proposal.”

By comparison, the Evaluation Commission members, who arrived on Sunday night, are staying on the Gold Coast for the four-day assessment period and will spend about half their trip visiting venues such as Skilled Park, Metricon Stadium and the Gold Coast Convention Centre.

The Evaluation Commission will write a report advising voting delegates about the technical aspects of the bid, which will be posted by October 10 on the Commonwealth Games Federation website.

Evaluation Commission chair Louise Martin said the Hambantota bid would have to be assessed as a “virtual bid”.

“The Gold Coast bid and the Hambantota bid are two very different bids,” she said.

But Martin said there was little built at Glasgow when she was given the task of heading up the Scottish city’s bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, which was successful.

“We won the bid on a village that was virtual,” she said.

“You can’t expect to have everything there seven years out.”

Hooper said the masterplan concept for the Games Village and sporting venues proposed by Hambantota had “never been seen before”. “People will be able to walk to all venues,” he said.

Hambantota plans to build a mini sports city if it is awarded the event, with a string of venues and accommodation and support facilities all constructed close to each other.

The Evaluation Comission will leave the Gold Coast at the end of the week and head to Sri Lanka after a two-day stop over at Singapore. The first group of voting delegates will visit the Gold Coast on July 2. Gold Coast and Hambantota will learn which city has the winning bid on November 11. (www.goldcoast.au.com)