Seven out of 10 CWG venues ready, rest in 15 days

Seven out of 10 Commonwealth Games venues, which were entrusted to the CPWD, are ready and work on the rest will be over in a fortnight.

"We have already completed work on seven of the 10 Games venues. The remaining three will be completed in a fortnight," Director General of CPWD B K Chugh told reporters here on the 156th foundation day of the organisation.

CPWD is the main construction arm of the government and is undertaking the construction of projects related to the Games along with Delhi government and the Sports Authority of India.

The venues which remain incomplete so far are the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the SPM Swimming Pool complex and the new weightlifting stadium in the Nehru Stadium complex.

Chugh said that the civil work in all these venues have been completed and only peripheral work like greenery, pavements and laying of cables was being done which is expected to be over in another 15 days.

The CPWD DG said the JLN Stadium, where the opening and closing ceremony would be held along with the major events, has an innovative design for roof over seating tier. State-of- the-art technology has been used for sports lighting.

"This would be the largest membrane roof structure in the world," Chugh said. Membrane roofing is used to prevent leaks and move water off the roof.

Asked about the delay in construction of the main stadium, he said an additional work of tunnel construction was given which delayed the project for a while.

An air-conditioned tunnel for the performers of the opening and and closing ceremonies has been completed inside the stadium below the athletes' track and arena.

"This requirement came quite late and to accommodate this tunnel, all the remaining works related to roof, track etc had to be rescheduled," he said.

"Cable supported halogen balloons would also be placed inside the stadium which required a base, thus delaying the project," he added.