Completion Date Set For Delhi Village

The Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dixit, has stated that the Athletes’ Village for the Commonwealth Games will not be fully completed until Wednesday.

The news follows mounting criticism over India’s preparations for the Games, which open next Sunday.

About 4,000 people are working around the clock to get the Village ready, as competitors from across the world begin to arrive.

Athletes from Kenya, Scotland and India are now living in the Village but some competitors have already pulled out of the Games after the accommodation was described as filthy, uninhabitable and unsafe.

Dixit visited the site on Sunday to check on progress and after talking to officials she said work was ‘on track’.

‘About 66 flats will be handed over by tomorrow (Monday) and everything will be complete by Wednesday.’

Meanwhile, Team England has announced it will move its athletes to the village on Monday from the hotel in Delhi where they have been staying.

The build-up to the Games has been marred by construction delays, corruption scandals, a dengue fever outbreak and the collapse of a footbridge near the main stadium. A suspected militant attack on two foreign tourists has also highlighted fears about security.

Mike Hooper, chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation, has stated that his organisation wasn’t to blame for the problems.

He said he had been applying pressure on organisers since his team first viewed it in March.

‘These people just did not understand, or seem to accept the magnitude of the problem. But the reality is, we are where we are.’

He said that since the problems had been made public a lot of work has been done on the site.

The cost of hosting the largest sporting event in India’s history has soared. It has become most expensive Commonwealth Games so far, with estimates ranging up to more than £6.3bn.

Delhi has had seven years to prepare, though very little work was done until 2008 and ticket sales have so far been low.