With just 38 days until the Southeast Asian Games open, organizers are still struggling to finish the preparations in time.

Several venues in Palembang, such as the athletics stadium, aquatics center, beach volleyball arena and baseball field, are still far from finished.

Co-host Jakarta does not have as many worries as it only needed to renovate existing venues, though the slow progress on Cipule Lake – which will host the rowing events – in Karawang, West Java, has been a cause for concern.

However, Andi Mallarangeng, the minister of sports and youth affairs, and SEA Games organizing committee (Inasoc) chairwoman Rita Subowo shrugged off any worries and expressed confidence in the preparations.

"We are 100 percent ready to host the Games," Andi said on Monday. "All the venues in Jakarta are ready except for some finishing touches in Cipule, and I was told all the Palembang venues will also be ready in time."

The minister, who earlier this year said all Games venues would be finished by August, said he would inspect the progress in Palembang on Wednesday.

Rita voiced optimism after a meeting with Vice President Boediono, saying everything was going according to plan.

"I was told that the sand for the beach volleyball venues from Bangka has arrived at Jakabaring. The aquatics center is still a mess, but hopefully it will be finished in time," she said on Monday.

"We had to move the bowling to another venue because the new arena won't be finished in time, but it will still be in Palembang. We're optimistic all will go well and we'll be a good host."

Inasoc received a block grant of Rp 518.7 billion ($58.1 million) from the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs on Sept. 27, but Rita said organizers had yet to see the money.

Andi said his office was working to release the funds. "Our team is still examining list of goods and services that Inasoc needs, especially those that won't go through an open auction process as required by law," he said. "We have agreed on 11 items and are still verifying others."

Bureaucratic delays had held up funding before President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed a regulation last week that sped up its distribution. It allowed Inasoc to bypass laws that require open auctions for government projects with budgets larger than Rp 200 million, giving it the power to directly appoint businesses with approval from the ministry. (Antara, JG)