Cost of CWG Delhi stadiums up 250%

The cost of construction and renovation of five stadiums to be used during the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG) increased by almost 250 percent of the original, a reply to a Right to Information (RTI) application revealed.

The application filed under the RTI Act by activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal had sought details of the initial and revised budget for the CWG-related projects taken up by the central government.

According to the reply, the initial planned amount was Rs.1,000 crore but later it was revised to Rs.2,460 crore.

The 2010 Delhi CWG are scheduled to take place Oct 3-14 later this year.

The work of construction and renovation of the stadiums - Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Indira Gandhi Stadium, Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Swimming Pool Complex, Major Dhyanchand National Stadium and Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range - is being done by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD).

"The budget was revised on account of revised cost indices and escalation, change in scope of work as per the requirement of venue, various additions and deletions to make venue suitable for various standards and addition of service tax, quality assurance and contingencies," CPWD said.

The original cost for construction and renovation of Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, which is to host the opening and closing ceremonies, was Rs.455 crore. It was revised to Rs.961 crore.

Similarly, for the Karni Singh Shooting Range the budget was increased to Rs.149 crore from the original Rs.16 crore.

CWG OC seeks $500 million loan waiver

The organising committee of the Commonwealth Games has asked the government to write off its Rs 2,307-crore debt, saying its earnings from sponsorships and television rights may not be enough to pay back the amount. This is a significant turnaround from Organizing committee's earlier stance that the games will be revenue neutral.

The Union government extended loans to the committee for developing competition and training venues for the Games to be held in New Delhi in October this year. The amount includes the Rs 687 crore the Cabinet sanctioned last week.

The organising committee has requested that at least some part of the loans should be turned into a grant as the funds are being used for preparatory activities, a finance ministry official said.

“We understand that the committee has already started earning some revenue. So we feel that it should start paying off the loans now as it could be difficult to pay the entire amount after the Games are over,” he said, requesting anonymity. The government may look into the case of fresh loans later on, he added.

Sports and youth affairs minister MS Gill has thrown his weight behind the committee on the issue. He has written to finance minister Pranab Mukherjee asking for at least a partial waiver.

The finance ministry is not in favour of the proposal and is keen that the committee starts paying off the loan. The ministry has tightened the government spending in an effort to bring down fiscal deficit to 5.5% of the gross domestic product. Finance ministry officials said the latest tranche of Rs 687 crore might be waived off, depending on the actual revenue earned by the organising committee that is expected to earn Rs 1,780 crore from the Games. It has already got commitment of about Rs 700 crore from sponsorships and television rights.

CWG 2010 budget at $2.3 billion

Laying to rest speculation that the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2010 budget has overshot, CWG Director General V K Verma on Wednesday said that the entire estimated cost of the games was Rs 10,000-crore (approximately 2.3b USD).

The information was shared to put to rest the speculated amount pegged at more than USD 4 billion in some of the recent media reports.

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“The (speculated) CWG cost is a myth. The entire cost of the Games is Rs 10,000 crore, which is USD 2 billion.” Verma said addressing a gathering at the India International Sports Summit in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Out of the Rs 10,000-crore while Rs 2,000-crore will be spent on hospitality, the rest of the money would be spent on building infrastructure like flyovers and stadiums, which is there to last, he said.

Verma said that if India expects to host the Olympics in the near future, they should start laying the platform from now.

Verma, who is also the vice-president of World Badminton Federation, said that India got an opportunity to host the World Badminton Championship, following the popularity of the game in the country and the success the country achieved in the sport.

“According to a survey, India is the second largest badminton playing nation with 1.7-million players. India languished at the 27-28 position eight years ago but have now rose to seventh position,” he added.

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“Our focus now is Asian games,” he said adding that the players are now looking at the CommonWealth Games as a preparatory tournament for the team.

More funds requested by Commonwealth Games 2010

Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Dr. M S Gill on Monday said he will ask the government to release more funds for the Commonwealth Games.

Addressing a gathering of delegates from the 71 member nations of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) at the CGF General Assembly meet here, Gill said that the games committee is facing some shortfall in the already proposed budget and so they would ask the Central Goverment to release more funds. Gill said he is certain that the Prime Minister and the Cabinet would not hesitate to make all arrangements required for smooth process of the games.

He said New Delhi is bracing up to live up to the expectations of the Commonwealth Games Federation.

“We have to give you arrangements which are worthwhile, which are acceptable and which are seen to be good. Therefore Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit is working day and night. We are working as hard as we can on that,” Gill said.

Meanwhile, Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the organising committee of the Commonwealth Games Federation said the upcoming games village is even better than the one in Beijing Olympics.

The 2010 Commonwealth Games will be India’s first major international sports event after the 1982 Asian Games. New Delhi hosted the inaugural Asian Games in 1951 and again in 1982.

The Games will be staged in India for the first time and in Asia for the second time. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, held the Commonwealth Games in 1998.