Asians Soaring Hand in Hand
INCHEON, Korea, November 17,2011 - The total budget for the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, Korea, in 2014 will be US$1.62 billion, organisers revealed on Wednesday. Venue construction will account for US$1.393 billion, or 86 per cent of the total, followed by road projects (US$103 million, 6 per cent), private venue construction (US$54 million, 3 per cent), training venues (US$11 million, 0.6 per cent) and other costs (US$59 million, 4 per cent).
Of the total budget of US$1.62 billion, the Korean government will cover 19 per cent, the Incheon government 78.9 per cent, private 2 per cent and neighbouring city government 0.1 per cent.
The figures were announced at the 3rd Coordination Committee meeting for the 17th Asian Games in 2014 and the 4th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in 2013 at the organising committee's new headquarters, Meet-you-all Tower, in Incheon on Wednesday.
With 437 events in 36 sports at the 17th Asian Games, organisers will use 49 competition venues. Of these, 26 exist and 23 will be new, of which 16 are under construction and seven under design. In addition there will be 54 training venues, including 49 exisiting.
The completion of the 61,000-capacity Main Stadium has been brought forward by three months, with work set to finish by April 30, 2014, rather than July 2014. The new main stadium will host the opening and closing ceremonies and the athletics. Work began in June 2011 and will take 35 months.
In other matters:
Anti-doping: Organisers will target 1,600 tests, about 100 more than during the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, last November.
Ticketing: Number of seats available, 2.4 million; sales target, 1.8 million, or 75 per cent; on sale from September 2013.
Merchandise: Approximately 150 items in 11 categories, on sale from July 2012.
Ceremonies: Organisers have attended 18 Games to study and research ceremonies, including the 2011 Pan American Games.
Athletes' Village: 13,000 athletes and officials, 16km from Main Stadium. Two people per room.
Media Village: 2,600 media, 16km from Main Stadium.
(Source: AIPS)
