By IANS
New Delhi : Delhi, host of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and London, which will stage the 2012 Olympic Games, through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed here Tuesday will seek to help each other in several areas in organising the two sports events.
Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London organising committee, and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President Suresh Kalmadi said both cities would benefit from this “mutual cooperation”.
“The areas of cooperation are still to be discussed. There are major challenges for both cities,” Coe, winner of two 1,500-metre Olympic gold medals, told reporters after signing the MoU.
“The areas of cooperation could be transport, games village, volunteers who are ambassadors of the host city, and coaching. We could look at coaching athletes too,” he added.
Outlining the preparations for the Delhi games, Kalmadi said all stadia in the capital and the Games Village would be completed by Dec 31, 2009, for the Oct 3-14 event, adding that the construction work in some stadia has already started and in the others it would start by next month.
“The final designs (of the stadia) are in place, the tendering process is being issued and by Dec 31 construction work at almost all venues would start,” he said.
For a change, the IOA president did not complain about the shortage of money.
“The funds are in place, and all stakeholders have agreed to it. Our marketing agents are in place and the GoP (general operational plan) is in place. Now we wish to deepen our [Delhi-London] relationship,” he said.
Coe also pointed out that the games should have a long lasting legacy.
“Everything we create has to have a legacy,” he said, implying that the infrastructure should be utilised long after the games are over.
The MoU says Delhi and London would like to start a “global dialogue” around the two games.
“Mutual cooperation will ensure that we share as much knowledge as we can about core city services and our event planning efforts, without jeopardising security or infringing our separate legal arrangements with third parties,” the MoU said.
“Besides this, the two city governments and organising committees will seek to add value to the overall planning and delivery of key city services, operations and functional areas by sharing experience and best practices,” it added.