A six-member security management committee has been formed under the leadership of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sarbendra Khanal in view of the upcoming games. National Sports Council Fanindra Paudel is the Committee Secretary.

The committee comprises of Armed Police Force DIG Chandra Prakash Gautam, Brigadier General of the Nepal Army Himanshu Khadka, DIG Deepak Thapa and Director of National Investigation Department Laxman Gurung.

A total of 22,000 personnel including 14,000 from the Nepal Police, 6,000 from Armed Police Force and 2,000 plainclothes police officers will be deployed for the security of the event. The sports events will be conducted across Janakpur, Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Pokhara.

Close to 8,000 people including 5,000 players, coaches and assistants from Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives and Pakistan will be taking part in the event.

Earlier, the Nepal National Sports Council was under question for its ability to host the event due to postponement of the game several times before its upcoming date. The sports authority was reluctant to host the games as the Dasharath stadium has been under renovation for a long time.

With the stadium works close to completion now, Nepal is not only in a position to host the 13^th South Asian Games but will also utilize the venue to inaugurate the Visit Nepal Year 2020.

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But the questions remains, Will the Dasharath Stadium be ready in time for the SAG 2019?

The NSC authorities have assured that the stadium will be ready for the SAG 2019 opening and closing ceremonies in December 2019, stating that the stadium renovation works is nearing its final stages.

Despite assurance from the NSC authorities, national and internal sport bodies are questioning Nepal’s ability to host the large-scale sports event, which will see the participation of thousands of athletes from the seven participating South Asian countries.

The 13th edition of the South Asian Games will be divided into 27 various sports events.

The 13^th South Asian Games – 2019 was originally scheduled to be held between February-March 2018 in the given venue. However, Nepal expressed its concern and said that it needed more time to prepare the stadium that was devastated by the 2015 earthquake.

Following this request, a meeting of the South Asian Olympic Committee held in December 2017 decided to postpone the event to March 2019 between 9^th-18^th. Nepal was still unable to meet this deadline.

Finally, the 2019 Games are scheduled to take place in December this year. Moreover, the newly-elected NSC Member Secretary Ramesh Kumar Silwal is unwilling to propose any further postponements.

“We have expedited the renovation work. We are committed to readying the stadium at least a month before SAG. It will be ready by mid-November, no matter what,” said Silwal.

The renovation work for the stadium had actually started much before the 2015 earthquake. However, the natural calamity further increased the delay in renovation.

NSC Engineering Section Chief Arun Upadhyay said that an estimated NPR 220 million from government grant has been spent on renovation works.

“The stadium is being renovated at an estimated cost of Rs 1.5 billion, including 1.2 billion from China and 300 million out of the government’s own pocket,” added Upadhyay.

He also said that the remaining renovation work will be completed by November within the given capital.

According to the NSC, close to a 100 workers are being engaged per day for eight hours to expedite the renovation of the stadium.

Dasharath Stadium Renovation Works – Progress So Far

• The renovation of the general parapet is completed, while the seats have to be installed
• The synthetic tracks have been taken care
• The scoreboard work is in the final stage
• The retrofitting for the VIP parapet is still in progress
• The media center, the VIP room and changing rooms at the VIP parapet are ready
• Renovation work for the covered hall is in its final phase
• Turf installation is in progress
• Installation of water taps and electric bulbs has started

The Dasharath Stadium with a capacity was built in 1956. The stadium has hosted the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup and the 2013 SAFF Championship.

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Jeevan Ram Shrestha, President of Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) said that following the favorable verdict given by the Supreme Court, NOC would now accelerate their preparations for organizing the 13th South Asian Games (SAG) in Nepal.

Though SAG is scheduled to be held in March 2019, the date could be postponed as Nepal’s only international stadium, the Dasharath Stadium, is yet to be fully renovated after the damage caused by the 2015 earthquake. Any delay in hosting the event on time is bound to raise questions about Nepal’s ability to organize big international sporting events. However, Shrestha said that the government was closely monitoring the situation and that they are committed to hosting the event successfully.

Shrestha also mentioned that since most of the earlier editions of the SAG have not been held as per schedule, the South Asian Olympic Council has stipulated countries that are interested in hosting SAG to submit a guarantee of USD 500,000 from the 14^th edition onwards.

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