Today, February 16th, on the last day of the FISU Executive Committee Meeting, the Organizing Committees of the attributed Winter and Summer Universiades (2009 & 2011) presented their progress reports.
Prior to the report of the 2009 WU Harbin Organizing Committee, Mrs. Kairis Ulp, Chair of the WU Supervision Committee presented the Committee’s report. ‘The Harbin OC did an excellent job, not only in improving all sport facilities and venues, but also in training of the staff’, Mrs Ulp told the EC. ‘CSU is very happy that with the Winter Universiade, especially with the sports infrastructure and know-how in sports and event management, FISU will leave a remarkable legacy, not only for the city of Harbin, but also for the winter sports of China.’
‘The Winter Universiade is about to open after four years of hard work’, Vice-Governor of Heilongjiang Province Cheng Youdong told the FISU Board presenting the last progress report of the Harbin EC. ‘At present, the newly built and renovated venues for the Winter Universiade have all been put into use; all competition events are ready to be launched after test runs; all hospitality and supportive facilities are ready; the arrangements for major events such as the Opening and Closing Ceremonies are completed. To date, we have established a favorable atmosphere for staging the Winter Universiade. People of Harbin, Heilongjiang and even the whole country are yearning for celebrating this great festival. Harbin is welcoming guests and friends from home and abroad.’
Mr. Douvis, Chair of the SU Supervision Committee and Mr. Vandeplas, Director for the SU presented their evaluation report on the preparation of the Belgrade Universiade.
Then the delegates of the Belgrade OC presented their progress report. ‘October 19th, 2008 marked the new beginning for us as we altered the sports program and reformatted the volume of the event in order to meet the new economic environment that unfortunately, but not surprisingly, didn’t omit Serbia either’, Mr. Zoran Jovanovic, CEO of UB2009 told the FISU Board. ‘Organizational formatting was accompanied by a change in top management with the appointment of the new CEO as well as a new Marketing and IT & Broadcasting Director. New management is now strengthened by additional support from Serbia’s largest telecommunications company Telekom. New departments have also started to work ready to contribute in terms of transportation, logistics, accreditation procedure or international relations services while the public procurements are almost completed. A mere fact that the OC is assembling every two or three weeks goes to show that things are now going in the right and determined direction. Over 200 employees and 10,000 registered volunteers are marching firmly towards the finish and watching them work now six days a week with an increasing enthusiasm’, Mr. Jovanovic added.
General Coordinator of Erzurum 2011 WU Mr. Yunus AkgülAfter lunch, the 2011 WU Supervision Committee presented its report to the Board followed by the Progress Report of the OC of the 2011 Winter Universiade in Erzurum.
‘The construction bidding for the indoor facilities have been completed’, Mr. Yunus Akgül, General Coordinator of Erzurum 2011 explained to the FISU EC members. ‘The Bid Winners will take over the designated locations in March 2009. Construction for the ice hockey arena has been completed and a first test event will take place in March. Continuous test events and planned training courses will help maintain the arena for the Universiade. Construction execution plans for all outdoor competition venues have been completed. Exploration and allocation processes are continuing for some of the venues. The projected costs are being prepared as a part of the construction bidding process which will take place at the end of February 2009. A protocol has been signed with the Turkish Red Crescent Organization to convert their four-storey building into the Universiade main office. The building has 100 rooms and will be used as the Erzurum 2011 Organizing Committee Office.’
Next, the floor was given to the SU Supervision Committee for the 2011 Shenzhen SU to represent its report followed by the Progress Report by the OC of the 2011 SU.
Delegates of the 2011 SU presenting the progress report‘Faced with the global financial crisis, the provincial as well as the municipal governments immediately implemented a series of new policies to boost domestic demand and increased investments in fixed assets, including the Universiade venues, the Universiade special Metro line as well as traffic and transportation infrastructure projects’, Mr. Huang Guonqiang, Deputy Secretary-General of Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government and First Deputy Director-General of the Executive Office of the Shenzhen OC said. ‘A Universiade Action Guideline has been effectively carried out and a Master Schedule was made up for 2009. Three new departments have been set up, i.e. Opening & Closing Ceremonies Department, Legal Affairs Department and Universiade Village Administration Department. 95 % of the new venues are under construction and the framework of six major sports venues has been basically completed. The restoration of other existing venues has commenced on full scale and construction of the IBC has begun. Furthermore, the Universiade City Action Plan has been initiated in full swing.’
Mrs. Ulp & Mr. Eder, WU Supervision Committee
Vice-Governor Cheng Youdong presenting the last progress report for Harbin WU before the Games
Mr. William Hybl, Chair Legal Committee
Dr. Dusan Hamar, Vice-Chair Medical Committee
Mr. Buchel, Mr. Vandeplas, Mr. Douvis & Mr. Gualtieri
Delegates of the Belgrade 2009 OC