LAOS officials yesterday announced that a training center, which cost 35 billion kip ($4 million) to build, has been completed way ahead of schedule and will be ready for use before and during the 25th Southeast Asian Games.

The center sits on an 11-hectare lot in Sikeud village, Naxaithong district, and is the first venue to be completed. Next on schedule is the Chinese-funded National Stadium, which will serve as the main venue for the Games.

Organizers said they plan to inaugurate the training center, whose construction was funded by the Vietnamese government, on Jan. 18.

The center has an office, sleeping quarters for athletes, a track and a playing field, a football pitch, a gymnasium and other facilities for sporting events.

The facility can accommodate up to 200 athletes, who will train there before the start of the biennial meet and during the Games.

Construction is also ongoing on the athletes’ village, located on a 42,000-square meter area at the Dongdok Campus, Laos’ National University. It is expected to be completed in August.

Site manager Kiengkham Phoutchanhthavongsa said that most of the venues for the Games are now more than 80-percent complete.

“We are confident that construction of all venues will be finished by the end of March. We are now putting the finishing touches to the facilities at each venue, installing furniture and building roads around the complex,” he said. Peter Atencio