A bird’s eye view of Morodok Techo National Stadium last year. Yousos Apdoulrashim
Minister of National Defence Tea Banh, chairman of the Cambodia SEA Games Organising Committee (CAMSOC), urged all stakeholders to monitor and expedite the construction of all of the infrastructures for the games to complete it at least 100 days before the event so that Cambodia can confidently announce to ASEAN that the Kingdom is ready.
Minister of Tourism Thong Khon, also permanent vice-president of CAMSOC, held a meeting with the committee and stakeholders at the Morodok Techo National Stadium to conduct a more in-depth review and discussion in order to push everything to be ready in time for the games next year.
At the October 11 meeting, Khon raised two important points to review and discuss, the first point being the state of the infrastructure necessary to support operations at the Morodok Techo National Stadium when it is filled to capacity, such as roads, electricity and drainage.
Governor of Phnom Penh Khuong Sreng built three routes approaching the stadium, with roads from the Chroy Changvar bridge to Win-Win Boulevard and to the Morodok Techo National Stadium as well as roads connecting to National Roads 5 and 6 with a multi-lane interconnected system.
“The 32nd SEA Games will be held from May 5-17, 2023, and there is a clear timeline that must be completed before that date,” Vath Chamroeun, secretary general of CAMSOC said after the meeting.
Chamroeun detailed that the stretch of Win-Win Boulevard running in front of Morodok Techo National Stadium will be covered by rubber and the road will be beautifully decorated with light poles, lighting fixtures and other displays, with the city administration handling their installation.
He asserted that in terms of external infrastructure, CAMSOC will take over one road as an exclusive SEA Games lane to prevent accidents and to make sure that the delegates and athletes are transported to the stadium to compete on time.
“Among the three roads running from the Chroy Changvar Bridge, we will choose one of the roads as the SEA Games lane, allowing only vehicles transporting delegates and athletes or on official business to travel on it, while other non-priority drivers have to use the other roads in order to avoid athletes getting stuck in traffic jams or having accidents and to make sure that they can always make it to the competitions on time,” he said.
CAMSOC recently inspected the construction of the Sports Village that will serve as the centre for accommodations, food and entertainment for the delegates and athletes.
Sear Rithy, managing director of the Sports Village construction company, confirmed at the meeting that no later than January 15, 2023, the construction will be complete and ready for the nearly 4,000 official guests with fully decorated rooms done by the room organising commission.
“At present, 3,700 beds in the sports village have been installed, which means that the completed sports village will be handed over to CAMSOC near the end of December, 2022,” Chamroeun said.
