Stadia for Lusofonia Games to be ready by month-end: CM

Goa government on Friday assured that the entire infrastructure for the Lusofonia Games, to be held in the state in January next year, would be in place by this month-end.

Panaji: Goa government on Friday assured that the entire infrastructure for the Lusofonia Games (Portuguese Commonwealth Games), to be held in the state in January next year, would be in place by this month-end.

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told reporters on Friday that the construction work was progressing fast, though incessant rains this year delayed it a bit. "But still we have finished all the works within deadline. Entire infrastructure is getting ready in eight months, which is laudable," Parrikar said in the presence of Lusofonia 2013 Chief Executive Officer Keshav Chandra. The stadiums, existing and the new ones, would be ready by the end of this month, while some finishing touches would be left which can be done later, he said. The Games, earlier scheduled for November this year, were postponed to January next as the infrastructure was not ready. Parrikar blamed the previous Congress-led state government, saying that the work started only when his government took over in March last year. "Around 82 crore which were sanctioned for the infrastructure were diverted to other purpose by the earlier government," he said, adding his government had budgeted Rs 110 crore for the infrastructure, while the actual need was Rs 270 crore. "We had a shortfall of Rs 160 crore of which Rs 150 crore has been loaned from state-run Economic Development Corporation that would be repaid over a period of time by the state government," he said. The same infrastructure would be later used for National Games, he said. PTI