(ATR) With just 500 days before the opening of the XVIII Pan American Games in Lima, continental sport leaders have returned to the Peruvian capital to maintain a more direct supervision of the preparations.
"We want to work closely with the Organizing Committee [COPAL], which is why we have already held many of our meetings in Lima," Mexican Ivar Sisniega, secretary general of Panam Sports, tells Around The Rings.
The Panam Sports Executive Committee will be in Lima for three days, between Monday and Wednesday, after several of its representatives, including its president Neven Ilic, checked "in situ" a little more than a month ago the advances in the construction of the Pan American Village.
"We are happy with these advances in infrastructure," Sisniega says. "We are seeing an Organizing Committee different from the one we saw a year ago.
"Now we will also review the proposal of COPAL of the pending sports constructions," he added.
The Executive Committee arrived in Lima the same day it was learned that a Peruvian company had won the bidto build and renovate a number of venues in the port city of El Callao.Sacyr Construcción S.A. was chosen from among 58 local and foreign companies after a public tender handled by the United Kingdom government under an agreement with Peru.
The works in El Callao include the restoration of the San Marcos National University stadium for football, the remodeling of the Miguel Grau Coliseum (boxing and wrestling), and the construction of a sports center that will host the taekwondo and volleyball competitions.
In the coming days one of six finalist companies will be awarded the contracts in Villa El Salvador, south of Lima, the future venues of the rhythmic and artistic gymnastics competitions as well as karate.
All these works will follow the UK's New Engineering Contract (NEC) model, which was also used in awarding contracts for the Pan American Village, VIDENA and Villa María del Triunfo.
According to COPAL, the NEC is an "interesting and innovative" alternative that has allowed Lima 2019 to significantly speed up its infrastructure projects.
The VIDENA includes the athletics stadium, the aquatic center, a new sports center, the remodeling of the velodrome and the bowling alley. It will also host the badminton, handball, figure skating and judo events.
The Sports Complex of Villa María del Triunfo, currently under construction, will host baseball, softball, rugby, hockey, water polo, pelota basque and pelota palette.
The new venues will also be used in the Parapan Am Games from Aug. 23 to Sept.1. The Pan American Games will be from July 26 to Aug. 11, 2019.
On Monday members of the Executive Committee of Panam Sports, among them Technical Commission president Michael Fennell (Jamaica) and Coordination Commission president Keith Joseph (St Vincent and the Grenadines), were divided up to cover various areas. Both will also be interested in the production of television with a view to the Games.
On Tuesday morning the leaders of Panam Sports will do a "Strategic Planning" exercise of the Pan American sports organization and continental sport through 2023. In the afternoon COPAL will present its update on preparations for the 2019 Games.
On Wednesday, the Executive Committee will spend all day covering matters such as the Proposal to Modify the Statutes, the Agenda of the General Assembly of Panam Sports next September in Lima, advances in the area of Marketing, the first approaches to sponsors, and the Program of Olympic Solidarity.
The organization is working to help those affected by recent natural disasters in the region.
"More than one million dollars went immediately to help countries affected by hurricanes and earthquakes. It was a combination of resources from the IOC and Panam Sports that will continue to be distributed this year," said Sisniega.
Written by Miguel Hernández
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