Thiruvananthapuram : All the venues for the fast approaching 35th National Games will be ready by Jan 15, a Kerala minister said here Wednesday.
The event is scheduled to take place between Jan 31-Feb 14, 2015 and a record 10,000 athletes from across the country would be participating.
” As things stand today 90 percent of the entire infrastructure for the country’s biggest sporting event is now ready. By Jan 15, each of the 27 venues would be fully ready. This is a huge achievement for our state as things have gone so well and as planned and within the budget,” state Sports Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan told reporters .
The budget for setting up the infrastructure was Rs.261 crores and so far Rs.206 crores has been spent.
“Of the 35 works, 23 started in 2012 December and given the short time, it has been an exemplary performance in achieving this within the time and budget parameters,” added Radhakrishnan.
The works included construction of a brand new, state-of-the-art stadium and numerous other venues which were either renovated or built afresh.
He said cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, who agreed to be the brand ambassador for the Games, will be involved in promoting the mega event.
“We have had several rounds of discussion with him and he will be with us for the promotion,” said Radhakrishnan.
He also said that once the Games conclude, the entire infrastructure created would be handed over to a separate committee, which would prepare the road map on how these could be utilised for the benefit of sports enthusiasts.