THE facilities and venues of the 29th Southeast Asian Games are almost ready.
A visiting Malaysian sports official said this after he informed the officials of the Philippine Sports Commission about their ongoing preparations for the biennial meet.
“I would say it’s 70 to 80 percent done, the maintenance of the facilities, and the renovation of the stadiums,” said Kumaran Nadaraja, principal assistant secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports in Malaysia.
He added that the Malaysian government spent around 490 million ringgit or around roughly around P11.3 billion to get facilities and venues in good conditaion for the Games.
Nadaraja met with PSC Chairman William Ramirez yesterday over the staging of the 29th SEA Games Rising Together Baton Run along the streets of Manila.
Olympic medalist Hidilyn Diaz and Paralympic medalist Josephine Medina will lead the runners.
At the end of the 7.7-km run, Ramirez will turn over the baton to visiting Malaysian Prime Minister for Sports Khairy Jamaluddin, who in turn, will hand it over to the ambassador of Laos.
The Malaysian sports officials said security will be tight as always when the games go on in many venues which are mostly in the Bukit Jalil area.
Among the facilities to be used are the Malaysian International Trade and Exhibition Centre in Kuala Lumpur Sport City, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Putrajaya Watersports Complex and the National Velodrome and BMX Track in Nilai.
Olympians Marestella Torres-Sumang and Joy Tabal of Athletics, members of the national team, Paralympics athletes and players from Gilas Pilipinas are among those joining.
The PSC, according to PSC executive Ronnel Abrenica, has been working with its counterparts in Malaysia.
The event is a government to government initiative to drumbeat support and interest for the SEAG, which will be held in Luala Lumpur this coming August.