The road from Athens

Nevertheless, the Commonwealth Games represent the single-largest organisational challenge to Indian sport since the Asian Games of 1982. About 11,000 athletes and officials are expected. Facilities for at least 5,000 journalists will be needed. Already, there is talk of converting the many halls on central Delhi8217;s Pragati Maidan into a state of-the-art if temporary media centre.

The budget for the Games, Indian Olympic Association IOA officials privately say, is 8216;100-120 million8217;. Canada8217;s Hamilton, which had bid against Delhi, had put forward a budget of 8216;400 million8217;. How can India do it so cheaply?

IOA officials say it is simply because life is that much less expensive in India. Yet there are also hidden costs. The budget the IOA quotes does not take into account what the Union and state governments have spent and will spend on upgrading New Delhi8217;s roads and flyovers, its metro network8212;and the massive tax-payer funded athletes8217; village being constructed on the reclaimed land that unites east and central Delhi.

It is a truism that no two Games locations are the same. Melbourne, which hosts the 2006 Commonwealth Games and to which DDA officials have already made their mandatory 8216;study tour8217;, has an enviable permanent sporting infrastructure. From F-1 to cricket, soccer/Australian rules football to athletics, golf to tennis, it hosts major international competition every year.

New Delhi is not so fortunate, but then neither was Athens. It will need to upgrade or build new indoor stadia, but that really is the easiest part of the job. How does New Delhi compare in terms of hospitality, physical access and e-connectivity? It8217;s a mixed bag.

Visitors to Athens have been relatively disappointed with its hotels. For a fabled tourist destination, Greece, says a diplomat, 8216;8216;has no concept of a service sector8217;8217;. New Delhi8217;s hotels are qualitatively superior.

Likewise, in IT and telecom connectivity, so vital to the Games, India can be self-satisfied. The 53 kbps dial-up connections at the media centre in Athens haven8217;t failed8212;but the DSL lines even ordinary households in New Delhi are used to are way faster.

The Indian capital8217;s big problem will be traffic management. It could potentially sink the Commonwealth Games. Athens is a city of four million; for years, it was seen as a congested, polluted European laggard. New Delhi in 2010 will be home to four times the number of people8212;and its vehicle population would have jumped exponentially.

In Athens, restrictions were placed on use of private cars in the Games8217; area during the Olympics. A lane on every major road was declared the 8216;Olympic Lane8217; and simply out of bounds for vehicles that did not have a sticker indicating they were ferrying athletes, officials or journalists from venue to venue.

8216;8216;The government,8217;8217; says Randhir Singh, secretary-general of the IOA, 8216;8216;has committed that it will set aside a similar lane for the Commonwealth Games. It is part of the host city agreement.8217;8217;

It sounds wonderful but, frankly, given Delhi and its 8216;Do you know who I am?8217; mentality, it also sounds a day dream. As they say, the road to the Commonwealth Games is littered with good ideas; literally.