President Leonel Fern?ndez said yesterday that the responsibility of building the Olympic Village to lodge the athletes and delegates coming to participate in the Pan Am Games of year 2003 is up to the next government. He explained the facility will be begun by the next government, as construction is scheduled to start in late 2001. President Fern?ndez is banned by the Constitution from seeking re-election. Some 640 apartments of three bedrooms each and maid quarter will be built to lodge the estimated 6,000 athletes, coaches and delegates. The press continues to speculate on where these will be built. The apartments that will be used by the foreign delegations for 18 days, will later be sold to middle class Dominicans. Possible sites are the Campus I of the Universidad Nacional Pedro Henr?quez Ure?a, grounds adjacent to the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center on M?ximo G?mez Avenue; a government nail factory located north of the Olympic Center on M?ximo G?mez Avenue, grounds adjacent to the V Centenario Horse Race Track, or grounds on the Avenida Jacobo Majluta. The Olympic Committee prefers grounds near the JPDOC in order to save on transportation costs. The Fern?ndez administration has budgeted the remodeling of several of the sports installations that will be used during the Pan Am Games that will be held in Santo Domingo in summer 2003.
