PETALING JAYA, Nov 5 ― Malaysia will be making a bid to host the 2017 SEA Games, Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin announced today.
He said the matter was approved by the Cabinet last week with the caveat that hosting the meet should be “cost sensitive” based on the financial situation of the country.
“We (ministry) will come up with a detailed budget and have agreed that no new facilities will be built except for the velodrome in Nilai for which the tender is already out.
“We will refurbish existing facilities and will also not build a new Games Village,” he told reporters after opening the Southeast Asian Shooting Championships at the National Shooting Range in Subang here.
The last time Malaysia hosted the Games was in 2001 in Kuala Lumpur.
Khairy said the ministry also planned to include Sabah and Sarawak for venues apart from Langkawi for sailing sports, Nilai (track cycling) and Johor (road cycling).
“I have been made to understand a world class aquatics centre is being built in Sarawak, so we plan to hold aquatics events there. However, all these are at the discussion stage but we hope to finalise things without having to spend too much,” he added. ― Bernama
