By IANS,
Colombo: Australia’s Gold Coast appears to have an edge over Sri Lanka’s Hambantota in playing host to the 2018 Commonwealth Games, according to a report released by the bid evaluation committee.
Both Gold Coast and Hambantota have submitted their respective bids to host the 2018 edition of the Commonwealth Games and had an evaluation committee visit them to decide their readiness for the project. However, Hambantota will have to invest over 1.1 billion U.S. dollars in key requirements such as hospitals, infrastructure and telecommunications.
According to the report released by the Commonwealth Games Federation Friday, the Gold Coast venue was described as having demonstrated a thorough understanding of the games’ requirements including medical and health, Games village, sport and venues, finance, customs and immigration formalities, security and media operations.
The leaders of the Hambantota bid welcomed the report despite it being referred to as “appropriate” and “reasonable,” the Xinhua reported.
“The evaluation commission is of the view that, at this time and based on currently available information, a games staged in the Gold Coast presents a low risk, subject to village development arrangements being secured, while a games in Hambantota presents a medium to high risk,” the report added.
The report says Hambantota’s “unique” and “ambitious” plan ensures short travel times between venues for the “Games family” with an integrated park hosting 90 percent of the competition venues and all of the non-competition venues. Nonetheless all facilities still need to be constructed, raising questions as to whether Hambantota can meet the deadline for the Games.
The host city will be announced at the Commonwealth Games Federation general assembly in St Kitts & Nevis Nov 11.