Vientiane, Aug 6 (DPA) Laos, one of the world’s poorest nations, has completed more than 90 percent of its preparations to host the 25th Southeast Asian Games at the end of this year, with more than a little help from its friends.
The games, to be held in Vientiane Dec 9-18, will be the largest international event hosted by land-locked Laos since the summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) was held in the capital in 2004.
“Laos was a co-founder of the Games but in the past we were unable to play host,” said Khenthong Nuanthasing, the Lao Foreign Ministry spokesman.
Ranked among the world’s poorest countries, Laos, which opted for communism in 1975, first survived on largesse from the Soviet Union and then, in the aftermath of the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, switched to Western aid.
Foreign aid still finances more than half of the government’s budget.
But it has been Laos’ Asian friends who have helped the country of less than 6 million people prepare to host the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), deemed the “friendliest” among such sporting events. The Southeast Asia Peninsular Games, as they were originally called, were launched in 1959.
“Laos is a friendly country with friendly people so whenever we ask for help from our friends, they respond positively,” Khenthong told DPA.
China responded with an agreement to build a new $100-million sports complex, complete with a 20,000-seat football stadium, shooting range, badminton and volleyball indoor courts, indoor swimming and diving facilities and outdoor tennis courts on a 120-hectare plot of land 16 km north-west of Vientiane.
Yunan Construction Company built the National Sports Complex, now 98 percent complete, using materials imported form China and some 3,000 Chinese labourers and technicians.
In return, the Lao government promised the company a 1,000-hectare land concession in the That Luang marsh in Vientiane. Opposition to the proposed “China Town” development from Lao people living in the area turned into public protests, prompting the government to downsize the concession area to 200 hectares and to promise another site to the company close to the new sports complex, diplomatic sources said.
Facilities at the National Sports Complex appear Olympic class, although one problem is that the electrical and water systems, even the fire extinguishers, all bear instructions in Chinese, posing a linguistic challenge for Lao officials who are scheduled to assume management of the complex at the end of September.
“Some of the Chinese engineers will be kept on through the games to make sure there are no technical problems,” said Somphou Phongsa, vice president of the Lao National Committee of Sports and Physical Culture.
There are worries that maintenance of the new complex will deteriorate in the aftermath of the Games.
There are no such worries about the new international-standard golf course built with South Korean money two km north of the National Sports Complex.
After the event, the course promises to be popular among the Vientiane political elite, diplomats and the capital’s large international aid community.
Other contributors to Laos’ SEA Games effort include Vietnam, which built a $10-million athletes’ dormitory with 4,000 beds, Japan which built the $5-million Chao Anu Vong Stadium in Vientiane for the judo and karate events, and Thailand that built a $2.5-million muay Thai-Lao boxing stadium.
The new stadiums will go far in terms of boosting Laos’ sporting prowess in the future, which has suffered from the lack of international-class facilities in the past.
At this year’s SEA Games, the host has set itself the modest goals of winning gold in the petanque and muay Thai-Lao events, and getting its football team into the semi-finals. Altogether there will be 25 sporting events.
At the 2007 SEA Games held in Korat, north-east Thailand, Laos was a gold medalist in petanque, a bowling game first introduced to the region by the French colonialists.
The game remains popular throughout Laos, as it only requires a small investment in a set of bowling balls and a fairly large back yard.
“We have foreign coaches in all sports except petanque and muay Lao,” Somphou said. “For petanque you don’t need a big field or expensive facilities.”
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