Garcia confident oval facelift will meet deadline
— Despite delays in the renovation of the oval track at the Cebu City Sports Complex (CCSC), the city government is confident it will be finished in time for the 2024 Palarong Pambansa opening ceremony on July 9.
Acting Cebu City Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia expressed confidence that the facility would be ready for use by the first week of July, even though the civil works of the oval track only started last weekend.
After visiting CCSC for an ocular inspection on Tuesday and meeting with a representative of the contractor, Garcia said that everything would be prepared “at the latest” by the end of June.
The national sporting event, expected to welcome 12,000 participants from 17 regions in the country, is only about six weeks from its opening ceremony.
The games, however, will officially begin on July 6 and end on July 17.
Garcia said things still needed to be done, as when he visited the facility, he saw that workers had already poured rubber granules on a small portion of the oval.
It is the second of three layers needed to be poured onto the track.
Garcia said the first was asphalt, followed by the rubber granules and the final layer would be the red rubber. “However, it still needs a curing time before the third layer is applied,” he said.
Asked if there were other plans to host the opening ceremonies and athletic games elsewhere if the oval track was not prepared, Garcia said, “There is no plan B.”
He said other cities and towns in the province would extend help, given that there were also other facilities with oval tracks outside Cebu City, but reiterated his confidence that the CCSC renovation would be finished on time.
Last Monday, Garcia told The Manila
Times that he was serious about urging the contractor to finish the project as soon as possible.
“I even told him, just like the council said, that his license is in jeopardy if he does not deliver the project. So I was strict about it and made clear my sentiment that they have to deliver,” he said.
Except for the newly renovated swimming area, the CCSC facilities were not utilized when Cebu City hosted the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association early this month.
The CCSC was closed to the public for rehabilitation. The Cebu City public information office initially announced that it would take four months to refurbish the facility, but it has encountered delays.