Pricey training for local athletes

A MOP386.2 million contract for the construction of the foundation of the new Athletes Training and Formation Centre has been granted to Consórcio de Sociedade de Investimentos e Fomento Imobiliário Chon Tit, (Macau), Limitada, to Companhia de Engenharia Iao Lek Limitada and to the Macau branch of Companhia de Engenharia de Túneis Shanghai S.A.
The public tender for the first phase took place in October of last year, with a total of 14 proposals received at the time.
The development of the new centre foundations has a top completion date of 310 days, with construction kick-off established in February of this year and its conclusion expected by January 2018, according to the Infrastructure Development Office (GDI) website.
This contract grant is part of the first phase of development of the sports training centre, which will occupy 12,400 square metres of the parking lot at Macau Dome in Cotai, with a total construction area of 57,700 square metres.
The Centre is divided into a sports pavilion area and athlete’s residence area, with the public tender for the remaining facilities of the Centre to take place on June 14 and 15 this year.
Initially planned to be completed in 2012, the President of the Sports Bureau, Pun Weng Kun, stated previously that the completion of the Centre would probably take place in 2019.
‘To cope with the rapid development of the Macau sports industry, and make good use of land resources, the government [seeks] through the construction of the Centre [to] provide a concentrated, safe and well equipped training environment facility for athletes to raise their competition level,’ the Sports Bureau told Business Daily yesterday.
The department also added that the reallocation of the athletes to the Centre will help release room for sports facilities on the Macau Peninsula and in Taipa, with the Centre also including sports training facilities, accommodation services and sports medicine.