Evaluation process on Hambantota as CWG host city starts

By Cheranka Mendis

Members of the Commonwealth Games Evaluation Commission led by the Chairman of the Commission Louis Martin and Commonwealth Games Chief Executive Mike Hooper started their four day evaluation process in assessing Sri Lanka as a candidate city for the XXI Commonwealth Games to be held in 2018.

Sri Lanka which is competing with Gold Coast, Australia to host the games will be evaluated on a detailed appraisal process under the guidelines of the committee on technical aspects as well as the quality of infrastructure on which athletes can deliver the best results.

The Commission carried out the evaluation of Gold Coast last week and the results of the evaluation will be released through a report by October this year, two months ahead of the secret ballot that will decide the host country.

The winner of the bid is to be announced on 11 November, 2011.

Commonwealth Games Chief Executive Mike Hooper told reporters yesterday that strict instructions have been given on the release of the development grant of £ 5 million.

That the evaluation will be a clear and transparent process to “ensure that all checks and balances are in place,” Hooper declared.  He stated that the Committee has been informed by the local authorities that the all construction will be on time with no delays and that proper mechanisms will be set up to ensure the timely completion of all projects to avoid all inconvenience as was the case in India.

The games will fit the plans for Sri Lanka to go forward and the construction programmes are planned to be completed in 2016, two years ahead of the game.

 The compound will also be used for the XVI South Asian Games scheduled to be held in 2016 in Hambantota, Sri Lanka.

Pic by Upul Abayasekara