The Director the XIV Pan American Games, Bienvenido Solano, announced that President Hipolito Mejia has authorized the construction of the Pan Am Village for November 30. Solano made his remarks at a meeting of the Games organizing committee, the country’s Olympic Committee, and representatives of the nation’s sports federations, convened yesterday in a Santo Domingo hotel ballroom. Solano also announced that a private construction company, which he would not name, has expressed an interest in obtaining the contract. The Pan Am Village, where thousands of athletes, trainers and managers will be housed, was thought to be the exclusive obligation of the State. The US$140 million construction loan being provided by the Bank of Bilbao would need to be renegotiated if the private company steps in. Doubts about the Games being conducted in Santo Domingo in 2003, were set aside when Mejia authorized the inclusion of the DR$385 million estimated operational costs in the budget of the Sports Ministry. However, any such appropriation requires congressional approval. For this reason, the head of the Games organizing committee, Jose Joaquin Puello will meet with a panel of senators at 11:00 a.m. today to explain the planning for the games. "I’m not going there to fight," said Puello after yesterday’s meeting with sports federation leaders, "the Senate has every right to ask for information about the Games." Nevertheless, Puello may need to do a lot of explaining why the proposed operational budget continues to escalate. "This is budget number thirteen," he said, "and other variations can be expected." (2 November 2000)
