| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, July 17 (ANTARA) - The Sumatran province of Riau is now ready to host the four-yearly National Sports Week (PON) XIII, which will feature 39 sports and have 598 gold medals at stake, in September. "The Province of Riau is now ready to organize PON XVIII on time. Youths and Sports Affairs Minister Andi Malarangeng has overseen the preparations and the sports festivals can be held on time," PON XVII Executive Chairman for Riau Syamsurizal said during the weekend. "The sports week will begin on September 9 and last until September 20, 2012. The opening ceremony will be held on September 11, because the President will still be in overseas until then. However, the competitions will begin on September 9," he added. Last week, Minister Andi visited the sports venues, including the seven sites where construction was earlier hampered due to time constraints. The minister and his entourage also inspected the baseball, softball and fencing venues. The sports week organizers said they were optimistic that the event would be held on time, although the construction of seven venues had yet to be completed. PON VIII Deputy Executive Chairman Zulkifli Saleh stated that the committee had prepared alternative arenas to replace the seven venues if their construction did not finish on time. "We have to pay attention to the construction of the venues but the focus is on [how to obtain more] funds," Zulkifli said, adding that the unfinished seven venues were those for baseball, shooting, sepak takraw, indoor volleyball, archery, wrestling and billiards. "For the billiard event, we can organize it in a hotel or use the previous facility," he said. Zulkifli noted that the organizers were working hard to build the facilities. In order to save time, the government would invite tenders from private parties for provision of various equipment and services. The organizers might even lease equipment used in previous events. The sporting events will be held in different districts of Riau, as well as in the provincial capital city of Pekanbaru. Pekanbaru had started its preparations for the sports week a year ago. Last year, Pekanbaru Mayor Herman Abdullah applauded his government¿s efforts to make the city ready for the event. "We are now working on the Siak III and IV bridges," he said. "Infrastructures such as roads, airport and bridges must be ready. The mayoral government has completed a number of infrastructure-related tasks under its responsibility, such as land clearance for Siak bridge construction. Now it is the task of the provincial government to complete it," Herman added. He also cited the example of Siak IV bridge, in which the land clearance was done by the mayoral government and local residents had already received compensation. "The same is true in the case of Siak III. The provincial government has said the construction of the bridge will be completed soon, but it would be better if it does so earlier," Herman said. ¿The two bridges that connect the various venues on Jalan Sudirman in Pekanbaru should have been completed and fully functional well before the sports events took place. The Siak bridges must be given priority. Moreover, Siak I, which connects Pekanbaru and Rumbai district, is already 33 years old. People fear that it could collapse anytime when it is used," he added. Meanwhile, Syamsurizal said the province of Riau was ready to organise the opening ceremony, and preparations for the event were running well. He added that his team also cooperated with the organizers of the SEA Games, held in Palembang, South Sumatra, not long ago. Regarding the development of the seven sports venues, he noted that the preparations were running smoothly. "Based on the organizers¿ evaluation, we concluded that all parties responsible for the preparations of the venues are now ready to carry out their respective tasks for the sports events," Syamsurizal said. He pointed out that the technical teams involved in the preparations of the event had also expressed conviction that Riau was ready to host the competitions. "In order to overcome transportation problems, traffic jams in particular, we have coordinated with traffic police," he stated. To support the organizers, Sysmsurizal added, the committee had trained about 5,000 people to help in the smooth implementation of PON XVIII. Riau province is poised to win at least 60 gold medals. It was earlier said the National Sports Week XIII would feature 55 sports events and there would be 555 gold medals, 555 silvers and 729 bronze medals at stake. According to the Indonesian National Sports Committee (KONI) for Riau, the province's athletes are superior in certain sports. "We set ourselves a target of grabbing 60 gold medals. We have athletes who are excellent in sepak takrau, rowing, weightlifting, bodybuilding, and several other sports," KONI chairman for Riau Yuherman Yusuf said. However, he noted that Riau province had never been the overall champion at the event. Compared with Jakarta, Riau lags far behind, with the country¿s capital having been the overall champion 10 times. "But we are eager to give the best results to the people of Riau with our professional athletes," Yuherman said. He added that the athletes of Riau province were mentally and physically well prepared, so they were expected to make the Riau people proud.***3*** |
Selasa, 17 Juli 2012
RIAU READY TO HOST NATIONAL SPORTS WEEK
Senin, 18 Oktober 2010
PEKANBARU GEARING UP FOR NATIONAL SPORTS WEEK
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, Oct 18 (ANTARA) - As one of the selected venues, Pekanbaru city, Riau province, is gearing up to host 39 branches of sports which would be competed in the 18th National Sports Week (PON) in September 2012. "We are now preparing the development of Siak III and IV bridges," Pekanbaru Mayor Herman Abdullah said when he explained on Monday preparations being made by Pekanbaru to host 39 branches of sports in the PON event. The 18th National Sports Week will compete 55 sports events with 555 gold medals, 555 silvers and 729 bronzes at stake. The mayor has earlier also called on the Riau provincial government to prepare supportive infrastructure for the national sports events. As an example, he cited the Siak IV bridge whose land clearance has been done by the mayoralty and local residents have received compensation. But the provincial government has not yet begun the construction of the bridge. "The same is true to the case of Siak III. The provincial government has said it was to finish the construction of the bridge at the end of the year but it would be better if it does it earlier," the mayor said. He said that the two bridges which connected various venues on Jalan Sudirman in Pekanbaru should have been completed and functioned well before the sports events took place. "The Siak bridges must be given priority. Moreover, Siak I which connects Pekanbaru and Rumbai district is already 33 years old. People fear that it could collapse anytime when it is being used," he said. In the meantime, a fund of Rp23 billion from the state budget for the maintenance of roads in Pekanbaru city has also been disbursed and is now ready to be used. "The funds now are ready to be used," Head of Pekanbaru City's Public Works Service Dedi Gusriadi said on Monday. The funds are mainly earmarked for the construction of infrastructure, particular infrastructure in the suburbs. About 70 percent of the funds are for infrastructure in the suburbs and 30 percent for infrastructure inside the city. In order to accelerate the implementation of the project the public works service will call tenders for the projects this month. "We will announce the winners of the tender in the third week of this month," Dedi said. He said that his side was optimistic that the project would be completed in the coming three months because the roads were only to be given hot-mixed overlays or to be expanded. The regional government of Pekanbaru city also planned to turn urban roads into a "green belt" with shadowy trees. "We have set ourselves a target of having planted 10,000 trees at the end of this year," the city mayor said. The trees are being planted in several sections of protocol roads which so far were still less green such as those on Jalan Juanda, Jalan Riau and Jalan Subrantas. A man-made lake as the venue for the water ski event is also being prepared with funds taken from the Riau 2010 revised budget (APBD). "We have set aside a fund for its construction from the APBD," Mayor Herman said. Small-and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are now being prepared to welcome the PON. They are directed to produce souvenirs. They are expected to provide handicraft products and meet the need for souvenirs during the national sports events. "We hope that the souvenir market during the PON event would not be taken over by traders from outside Riau province. Therefore, local SMEs should be prepared from now on to sell their products during the PON," the mayor said. For this purpose, the provincial government has began taking stocks of the number of SMEs in Riau province which was estimated at 470.585 units. "The Small-and Medium Sized-Businesses (UKM) Service of Riau through its districts/cities offices has begun surveying SMEs which are able to produce special souvenirs of Riu origin for the PON 2012," Chief of Riau's UKM service for infrastructure and facilities affairs Irianto said. There are several districts such as Bengkalis, Kuansing and Kampar have been directly assigned to produce souvenirs for the sports events in 2012. "The assignment of several districts in certain areas is based on the conditions of their locations which meet the requirements for sports events," Irianto said. However, all districts are asked to collect data through their cooperatives on the type of their handicraft products and special foods that could be use souvenirs. "This small businesses will be registered at the PON committee and be asked to select and the kinds of souvenirs for the PON," Irianto said.***4*** |