Fears over readiness of India WC venues
Ben Sheppard
Just six weeks before the cricket World Cup, several venues including
India’s most famous stadium are chaotic scenes of cranes and rubble,
raising fears they will not be ready in time.
The tournament, being held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh from
February 19, will attract huge crowds and worldwide television audiences
drawn by the best international players competing in 49 matches.
But it threatens to be a replay of New Delhi’s recent Commonwealth
Games, which instead of marking the arrival of a new, modern India on
the world stage became a national embarrassment of delays, shoddy works,
and alleged corruption.
As the cricket clock ticks down, anxiety is growing over the
preparedness of organisers, with a ten-million-dollar upgrade to the
80,000-seater Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata causing the biggest
headache.
Concrete
Amid the diggers, dust and bare concrete, hundreds of labourers
wearing virtually no safety equipment are toiling day and night to
finish off two new blocks of stands which are still covered in
scaffolding.
Pillars rise out of the new stands awaiting roofs that have not been
begun, while the club house is still under renovation, with many toilets
broken or blocked. Old team photographs are covered in builders’ dust.
Seats are not fitted in many tiers, the outer wall surrounding the
venue has collapsed in sections, corporate boxes are far from complete,
and parts of the stadium are still being dug up. “It’s impossible to
complete such a massive project in just 11 months,” Sajal Pramanik,
manager of the Shapoorji Pallanji construction company which is building
the two new blocks of seating, told AFP.
Complete
“It’s not magic. We need time to complete the work. I think the roof
on the eastern block cannot be fixed before February.”
The ground — one of the great pilgrimage sites of international
cricket — also has major security problems, with curious members of the
public free to walk around it despite the risks of militant attacks in
volatile South Asia.
The situation with the World Cup venues is similar to the
preparations for the Commonwealth Games, which were undermined by
delayed and scruffily finished venues after months of hurried work.
“Apart from the construction of the two new blocks (of seating),
there are other problems at Eden Gardens,” the Cricket Association of
Bengal’s joint secretary Biswarup De admitted to AFP.
“We are in talks with ICC officials to solve the problems such as
sponsors’ tickets and hospitality. We will leave no stone unturned.”
Renovation
Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium, where the final will be held, is another
venue rushing to be ready on time after two years of renovations at a
cost of 55 million dollars.
A report by the International Cricket Council (ICC), the sport’s
governing body, leaked to the Deccan Herald newspaper last month named
Wankhede, along with Eden Gardens, as not certain to meet a January 31
deadline for hand-over to the ICC.
The report said areas of concern include the floodlights’ power
supply, new glass that reflects into batsmen’s eyes, the umpires’ room
put in the wrong place and unsuitable anti-doping facilities and medical
rooms.
Lalchand Rajput, joint honorary secretary of the Mumbai Cricket
Association, told AFP that targets to complete work by the end of 2010
had been missed due to late monsoon rains, but the schedule was back on
track.
“The ICC made some suggestions that we have taken into account and
the construction is under control.
They (the ICC) will be coming for an inspection on January 24,” he
said. “We should be ready.”
NEW DELHI, Sunday, AFP
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