2018 Asian Games Right on Track
Jakarta. Progress on the preparation for the 2018 Asian Games, which will be held in Jakarta and Palembang from August to September next year, is on the right track, the Indonesian Olympic Committee, known as KOI, has declared.
"Everything is right on track," KOI sports development commission chief Harry Warganegara Harun told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday (16/02). "We're going to hold the first technical meeting for every discipline included in the Games on March 4," he said.
KOI is the 2018 Asian Games' leading committee. The Sports Ministry is one of its biggest sponsors. KOI and the Sports Ministry have also formed a special task force for the event, the Indonesian Asian Games Organizing Committee, or Inasgoc.
Inasgoc reportedly said they need at least Rp 8 trillion ($600 million) to stage the event, less than half of the $1.5 billion budget for the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
"The government has promised to give Inasgoc Rp 2.3 trillion. We're still waiting for them to make good on that promise," Harry said.
"The problem is Inasgoc by law can only receive up to Rp 500 billion in funding in 2017. So we're also waiting for the president to issue a regulation which will allow Inasgoc to receive more funding from the government this year," he added.
The 2018 Games will be the second Asian Games held in Indonesia after the 1962 Jakarta Asian Games when Indonesia was still under the rule of its charismatic first president Soekarno.
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