China’s Asian Games Town ready ahead of time

BEIJING - As India works feverishly to prepare for the Commonwealth Games that begin Oct 3, Asian Games Town with 8,000 apartments in China’s Guangzhou city is complete and has been handed over to the organising committee nearly two months ahead of the sporting event.

Asian Games Town, which took more than two years to construct, has been formally handed over to the Guangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee, China Daily reported Wednesday.

The town is ready to accommodate an estimated 40,000 athletes, coaches, technical officials and members of the media from around the world. It has been built on the banks of Pearl River tributaries and is spread over 2.73 sq km.

The 16th Asian Games are from Nov 12 to 27.

Besides an athletes’ village with 13 apartment buildings, the town has a media village, technical officials’ village, international broadcast center and a main press center.

Xu Ruisheng, vice-mayor of Guangzhou and executive deputy secretary-general of the organizing committee, said: “The coming Asian Games will serve as a showcase for China’s Lingnan culture that thrives in Guangdong and other parts of south China.”

Yuko Arakida, a former Japanese Olympian, heaped praise on the Games Town after she visited it.

“I think the facilities for the athletes at the Asian Games are much better than at the Beijing Summer Olympic Games. There is lots of green and it is a very good environment for the athletes,” Arakida was quoted as saying.

An Asian Games traffic lane has also been earmarked to reduce travel time to competition and training venues during the Games.

The town has been aesthetically developed with riverside communities and tropical trees giving it an ambience typical of south China.

Over 63 percent of the town has been covered in greenery and tropical trees and fruit plants are now being planted.

Tang Ruping, director of committee’s service department, said: “The Guangzhou Asian Games will make every guest feel at home with the best service and the most hospitable reception.”

The Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi Oct 3-14 has come in for criticism for lack of preparedness. Hygiene issues have dogged the Games Village which is to house the athletes.