After Malaysia hosted the Commonwealth Games in 1991, the first time by an Asian country, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed wrote in his recently-released memoirs titled "A Doctor in the House" how the event transformed the country, not only the capital Kuala Lumpur where it was staged, in terms of development, tourism and business and propelled it into a new era.
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| Games park (artist’s impression) |
"We are using that example to profile the huge benefits Hambantota and Sri Lanka will get if we host the Games," said Central Bank Governor and co-Chairman of the Hambantota Games Committee, Ajit Nivard Cabraal. In an interview with the Business Times, he said that Sri Lanka has 'been wrapped in a 30-year conflict' and 'we need to get ourselves out of that mindset'. When someone refers to Sri Lanka, the general impression is about the conflict. "A different image has to be built for Sri Lanka.. and there is no better opportunity than hosting the Games and projecting Sri Lanka in a different light altogether," he said, adding: "That is the driving force behind this bid."
He said Sri Lanka has won a lot of mileage from the bid itself. "The fact that we have offered to host the Games has brought us into very strong international light. We have seen many of the countries taking notice .. our initial bid book has been very well received. Many people have very frankly admitted that our showing (presentation) was streets ahead of that of Gold Coast. The mileage that we have received even in the bid has been very, very high."
Asked whether Hambantota was favoured because it's the President home town, Mr Cabraal said many countries realize that the legacy of a particular investment of this kind is enough to keep one going after the event. "For example if we were to host it in Colombo, the benefit that Colombo would have received would have been marginal because Colombo is already a highly developed city - we have an airport and a port, we have a parliament, we have a business district. Everything is found in Colombo. We could have brought just another advantage into Colombo. So we needed to open out new areas," he said. "We think Hambantota offers the best possible location to host a Games of this nature because there is a free landscape and we already have a cricket stadium. We can offer Hambantota as a unique sporting city to the world."
Referring to the huge cost, he said anyway most of these facilities and infrastructure are being installed for the South Asian Games and for events thereafter. "Rs 200+ billion is not a lot of money. This is what we would have spent on the war in one year. Here we are spending it over six years," he said adding that they hope to raise over US$200 million from sponsorships.
On Thursday, the Governor and some members of the organising team were due to fly to Jamaica to meet and present the bid document to Michael S Fennell, President, Commonwealth Games Federation, who was not present at the May 11 ceremony. However the trip was postponed owing to the disruption of flights across Europe due to the spread of volcanic ash from the Icelandic disruption. |
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