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| India's Commonwealth Own Goal |
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| Written by Neeta Lal | |
| Wednesday, 09 September 2009 | |
 New Delhi drops the ball in developing facilities for one of the world's biggest sporting events
With the Commonwealth Games to open in New Delhi hardly more than a year from now, a damning report by an Indian parliamentary committee has raised serious questions about India's level of preparedness for the event. The report, which criticizes the Delhi government in no ambiguous terms, highlights the danger that many projects won't be ready on time. Work on 13 of the 19 sports venues is behind schedule with the aquatics complex and the hockey stadium in the worst shape. Most disquieting is that the design for the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium - the main venue for the games – isn't even finalized yet. Only about a tenth of the hotel rooms for tourists are available as of now. And, to borrow Lance Armstrong's phrase, it isn't just about the bike, or any other sporting event. The games are one of the world's biggest multi-sport affairs after the Olympic Games. Held every four years, the Commonwealth Games draw as many as 5,000 athletes from 53 former member countries of the British Empire. They give New Delhi the chance to polish its global image in much the same way the 2008 Olympics centered China firmly on the world stage. Indeed, the Chinese government leveraged the opportunity to invest $40 billion to develop Beijing in dramatic fashion, wiping out vast tracts of the city and putting in place world-class infrastructure and dazzling facilities. Similarly, England is using the opportunity provided by the 2012 Olympics to give London a makeover. New Delhi, however, is running around at the last hour seeking to put things in place. The pressure is showing -- half-baked flyovers and metro rail construction in New Delhi are collapsing in parts, causing accidents and endangering lives. Rather than using this opportunity to shore up New Delhi's dilapidated infrastructure, money is being squandered on ill-executed projects. With 16 major infrastructure projects for the city running behind schedule, including flyovers and road tunnels, the forecast is ominous. Infrastructure shortcomings listed in the report range from below-par airport facilities, accommodations and roads to security, stadiums and power supply. One of the major developments running behind schedule is the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Aquatic Complex. According to the plan, 93 percent of the work was to be completed three months ago but so far only 40 percent has been finished. Training venues for athletics, swimming, weightlifting and wrestling at the Games Village are lagging behind with over 40 percent of the work yet to be completed. Other key projects running behind include the Shivaji Stadium for hockey, the Ludlow Castle Hall for wrestling, the Jamia Milia Islamia University which is the venue for rugby and table tennis and Talkatora Stadium, the boxing venue. At all these venues, the work shortfall is as high as 50 percent. The parliamentary report, which lays the blame for the delay at the door of the organizing committee and the sports ministry, has also objected to the manner in which the government has been revising its own deadlines. For instance, in the SPM Aquatics Complex case, the planned project progress as per set target was supposed to be 93 percent as of May 2009. Now, it has been revised to 36 percent. There are many such revisions in the schedule. Even the International Swimming Federation has criticized the Indian organizers for the poor swimming facilities it is offering. Apart from criticism, budget overruns and a resultant funds crunch among private developers due to a bruising meltdown have only compounded the confusion. As a result the cracks are showing. Trial competitions for the games have been pushed to August 2010, just two months before the start of the event as the infrastructure still remains to be put in place. Asked why the events are being held just two months before the games themselves, organizing committee vice-chairman Randhir Singh quipped that "If we had held them a year back, then after the events, the stadiums would have been left unused and wouldn't have been fit for the main event." However, despite less than perfect preparations for the event, India's sports minister, Manohar Singh Gill, remains upbeat. "All human efforts are being put in to deliver the sporting facilities well before the time," he told journalists recently. He even compared the Games to "a lavish Indian wedding" characterized by haphazard preparations that will ultimately come together. Gill's optimism fails to mask New Delhi's lackadaisical approach to the event. The games, in which 71 teams will participate from the 53 nations, will cost the Indian exchequer US$ 1.6 billion, making this the most expensive games ever. Manchester 2002 cost US$420 million while Melbourne 2006 was billed at US$1.1 billion. The tourism sector also has high stakes. The event is intended as a catalyst to boost tourism to Delhi, which expects 2 two million foreign tourists and 3.5 million domestic tourists for the event. To cope with this influx, the government has pulled out all stops to provide tax incentives for hotel rooms while extending a five-year tax rebate to the tourism industry to create jobs and increase development. But despite this, the immediate problem of a room shortfall for incoming tourists is proving to be a big headache. According to industry estimates, Delhi has only 4,756 rooms available against a requirement of 40,000 required for the event. Per the latest review, 13 five-star hotels have confirmed they will offer 2,270 rooms, six four-star hotels will chip in with another 485 while three-stars will contribute 2,000. In spite of this, the government is still scrambling for additional rooms. To plug the shortfall, last year it launched the 'Incredible India Bed and Breakfast Scheme' to add an estimated 20,000-25,000 rooms. The scheme invited Delhi-based families to convert their homes into bed-and-breakfast establishments which could charge about US$35 a night. However, the plan met with a lukewarm response due to poor marketing. Not that Delhi isn't capable of executing world class events. The 1982 Asian Games were a classic example of a global sporting event that wrought an impressive makeover for the city. The event put in place a seamless network of flyovers, roads, hotels and infrastructure befitting a world class city. But that's history. Today, India has to realize that with changing world order dynamics, international sports events transcend being mere sports events. They carry a strong geopolitical message to help countries build up a groundswell of soft power. Riding on its much-vaunted demographic dividend and economic heft, India can use this opportunity wisely. More so because the stakes are higher his time for it as it competes with other Asian nations for a higher rank in the world pecking order. But blame it on India's notoriously apathetic bureaucracy or the country's characteristically breezy attitude towards sports, there seems to be no urgency on display in New Delhi to meet the global event's deadline. If the city doesn't buck up – and fast – this is one wedding whose bells may only clunk. Comments (8)
  written by Lan Si Lan Yong, September 10, 2009
India dreams of becoming a super power, overtaking China soon. But that is just it.....a dream, a fantasy. It is way behind China in efficiency. It is way behind in infrastructure. As as far as hosting the Commonwealth Games, it is a DISGRACE that India, such a big country, with a far big resource can't even host the games properly, whereas a small teeny weeny dot on the map called Malaysia, with so little resource, and a little developing country, can host the games much more efficiently.
written by Mutusamy, September 10, 2009
It is no surprise things are not moving well. You have to understand how Indians work. No, Indians are NOT lazy. Many people can attest to the fact that Indian shop owners can operate their shops for long hours everyday, seven days a week, and never take a day off the whole year, except on Deepavali day. And Indians have incredible stamina when they run their business.
The biggest trouble is corruption in India. On top of that, Indians like to argue non stop, and there are many twist and turns in the argument. It is a handicap in this case when they are preparing for the games. But that trait does the Indians well in certain professions. Many Indians are very successful as lawyers. Afterall, lawyers' jobs are arguing their clients cases. You can see that some of the most prominent lawyers in Malaysia, UK and many Commonwealth countries, are Indians. But here in India, preparing for the games, the politicians, the contractors for the infrastructure, the project managers, the businessmen are all arguing their hearts out, and everything is crawling at a snail's pace.
written by hubble, September 17, 2009
All the above comments are correct. Indians like to argue. They will argue over everything. If it is logical then it is a great thing but they are irrational and emotional and they lose sight of the big picture. The Indian lawyers can promise you anything and everything. "Every case can win. Sure no problem." At the end the client loses a lot of money. This is one reason for the mess in Malaysia when it involves Indian problems. Put one Indian in a top post and the rest below will be Indians in no time. Proof? When the Security Council put an Indian Singaporean in charge of security, the next minute everyone under was an Indian. When a 5 star hotel in Johor Bahru put an Indian as GM, the same thing happened. And what a mess they made. Even the hotel HQ in USA stood up and took notice of the mess. Finally the whole lot was fired. This is the talk of the service industry in Malaysia for a while. Indians will do well outside India where the system can recognise their talent and they are in a minority. But where there are lots of them then problems will creep in. Irrational, emotional - that's is the problem. Not lack of talent.
written by JeffAsh, September 17, 2009
Yet another example of the shinning hype about India falling apart against reality. India superpower this, India rising power that, India taking on the world this, India poised that... Yeah, India, how about talk a hell lot less and do a hell lot more. What a disgrace, no, what a lemon being over-sold to the world.
written by Tiffany Necklaces, September 26, 2009
India dreams of becoming a super power, overtaking China soon. But that is just it.....a dream, a fantasy. It is way behind China in efficiency. It is way behind in infrastructure. As as far as hosting the Commonwealth Games, it is a DISGRACE that India, such a big country, with a far big resource can't even host the games properly, whereas a small teeny weeny dot on the map called Malaysia, with so little resource, and a little developing country, can host the games much more efficiently.
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written by Madurai Hotels, October 01, 2009
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written by louis vuitton, October 22, 2009
India dreams of becoming a super power, overtaking China soon. But that is just it.....a dream, a fantasy. It is way behind China in efficiency. It is way behind in infrastructure. As as far as hosting the Commonwealth Games
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They are very good at finding excuses for their laziness. Most typically, they will use India is a democracy as excuse.
Canada which is going to host Olympics this winter is a democracy. India is NOT. It is a chaotic place with a so called election. Most of the Indians do not know who they are voting for.