P300-M Palaro venues near completion

MANILA, Philippines - Preparations for the staging of the 2011 Palarong Pambansa, including infrastructure works in various venues, is now almost complete five weeks before the annual sporting meet for public elementary and high school athletes is held May 8-14 in Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte.

The Palaro Executive Committee recently said some P300 million has been poured into the on-going infrastructure projects at the Jose Rizal Memorial State University which will serve as the main Palaro venue for the seven-day competitions to be participated in by over 10,000 athletes, coaches and meet officials from 17 regions.

PEC chair and former Zamboanga del Norte Rep. Romeo Jalosjos said preparations is now almost 85 percent complete with contractors pledging to finish all works at least one week before the start of the games, including the track oval’s P20 million asphalting, P10 million soft surface (ESR) and P2 million embankment.

The P40 million rubberized top surface, which was imported from China, is also about to be laid out while the P75-million, 120-meter long main pre-fabricated grandstand has been constructed in three phases with its foundation alone costing P30 million.

The Olympic-sized 25x50 meter, 10-lane swimming pool as well as the four-lane 12x25-meter warm-up pool are also about to be completed.

Dapitan City engineer Elmer Villoria, overall chairperson on Palaro infrastructure projects, also said the near completion of the P5 million roofing of the JRMSU gym, additional P5 million lawn tennis court, P3.2 million swimming pool shower room, P4 million perimeter fence, and the P5 million billeting quarters in various local schools.

According to Jalosjos, the various Palaro infrastructure projects are fully financed by local government officials of Western Mindanao, also called Zamboanga Peninsula.