Agnes Winarti and Niken Prathivi – At Palembang, the story is no different. Starting behind schedule, the developers are left hustling in the final days to finish on time.
Among the venues fully finished as of Monday were the tennis courts, roller sports track and petanque grounds, with the others still receiving finishing touches.
Eleven days before the opening ceremony at the Jakabaring Sport Complex, Palembang still has five venues, including for aquatics, shooting and biliards, to be completed, causing a delay to many test events.
Only two sports – gymnastics and wrestling – will hold their test events in November, while the rest of the events are uncertain due to technical problems, Dhennie Zainal, the test event coordinator for Palembang venues told Kompas on Sunday. Palembang will host 20 sports for the Nov. 11-22 Games, while Jakarta hosts the remaining 22.
Spectators may not be able to see the online and real time results of many events, as the Omega Swiss Timing equipment has not been installed in many venues. The test event for shooting was scheduled on Oct. 29 but was rescheduled to Nov. 2 as the timing equipment was not ready.
The developers guaranteed on Sunday to complete the venue work by Nov. 1, as they rushed the instalation of electronic equipment at the new Jakabaring Sports Complex.
"If we fail to finish our work by Nov. 1, we're ready to be fined Rp 2 million [US$224] per hour according to our contract with the South Sumatra provincial administration," said PT Prambanan Dwipaka project manager Agung Sugiono on Sunday as quoted by Antara news agency.
Agung said that on Saturday, the workers had began installing the electronic equipment for the 10-meter shooting range, and they would continue the installation at the 25-meter and the 50-meter ranges. "We payed Rp 100 million for a specialist from Switzerland, Mark Bidnof, to help us install the equipment in a week," said Agung.
Delays also hindered a test event for aquatic and track and field events, as the electronic timing equipment had not yet arrived at the venues. The fin-swimming test on Oct. 29-30 was scored manually.
"The digital scoring records and scoring boards have arrived in Jakarta and are scheduled to be here on Monday along with the technicians from Switzerland," PT Prambanan Dwipaka project manager Tedjo Kuncoro said on Sunday.
One of the last-minute preparations in Palembang involves the Athletic Stadium. At the request of the national track and field association (PB PASI), the provincial public works agency will extend the length of the main grandstand and add a room under the extended grandstand to expand spectators views until the finish line and also to install photo equipment for the finish line.
"It should have been finished last month, but we will now be finished very late, as we were required to build more than what has been planned," Aminudin, from the provincial public works agency, told Antara on Sunday.
Aminudin said that all the major construction work had been finished including the additional stands and building. "The last few things to be completed are paintings and cleaning up the area. Hopefully, we will finish with the garden, fence and parking lot in the final few days," he said.