Julian Andres Santa
At the House of Sport in the Olympic Village, a new meeting was held with the departmental committee of the National and Paranational Youth Games that will be held this year in the Coffee Region. The sports secretaries of Pereira and Risaralda, representatives of the Ministry of Sports and the municipal and departmental committee were present, where without a doubt one of the main topics was to learn about the planning for the pending works in some of the venues that, although they were remodeled last year, already present anomalies.
Juliana Enciso, director of the games, says: “The idea is to integrate conventional sport with Paralympic sport. The games will take place from November 8 to 29. We are going to have the inauguration here in the city of Pereira, the mayor is very committed and we hope to experience a great sporting event here in the Coffee Region.”
What has changed since the last visit of the Minister of Sport to the Coliseo Mayor until today? Juliana Enciso answers: “Nothing has changed, except the will of the Governor with the commitment he has to be able to carry out the work of reinforcing the roof to guarantee that the stadium is ready for the month of November. It is his responsibility to have this stadium ready and the tennis court, which there is also a concern for it to be ready for our athletes.”
“The Governorate was given a one-month deadline. We hope that by the time the next committee meeting is held here in Pereira on August 22, there will be some progress. If not, we will begin to think about Plan B so that these sports remain in the city and all guarantees can be provided to the athletes,” adds Juliana Enciso, who concludes by saying that the Coliseo Menor would be an alternative if necessary.
Regarding the concern about the damage to the Coliseo Mayor timber, Luis Eduardo Duque, Risaralda’s sports secretary, explains: “The timber is a commitment of the consortium, as you know there is a part that was blown away, work is already being done with the wood and the consortium is the one that has to do that; they have not yet delivered it to the Governor’s Office or to the Ministry and that is why it is important and their task is to leave and deliver the timber as it should be.”
Regarding this scenario, which is managed by the mayor’s office, Sandra Grajales, secretary of sports for Pereira, answers: “In the Coliseo Menor we must define and organize this front that has holes and is made of light and metallic material, where when it rains with wind, the playing field gets wet. What we have to do is adjust that space, either with tarps or, well, the engineers and architects will be in charge and, in the first level, we can improve the ventilation issue and other details such as white work, but these are things that we can say are easy and small and that we can develop between now and the month of November, which are the games.”
“The Coliseo Menor is fine. The technical visit by the Ministry showed that the stadium is in good condition. That would be one of the plan Bs in case the Coliseo Mayor is not finished by November, to bring indoor volleyball to the Menor.”
“Since the minister’s review, the governor said that there will be 2.5 billion in royalties to be able to finish. There is a deadline until next week to deliver the entire project and that we have time to be able to fix the overhang and the roof of the Coliseo Mayor.”
“Through these working groups that have been developed with the Ministry, it has been possible to take a tour of the different scenarios that have been remodeled and managed by the Mayor’s Office of Pereira. The intention is to be able to develop everything in the best way and to be able to meet the established deadlines.”
On August 22, a new committee meeting will be held in Pereira with the Ministry of Sports, where it is expected that more decisive decisions will be made regarding the current state of sports venues, specifically the Coliseo Mayor.
2024-07-20 05:10:16