Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Nazmi bin Haji Mohamad yesterday said hosting international and regional games, like Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, is challenging due to workforce and infrastructure requirements during the 20th session of the Legislative Council (LegCo) meeting.
The minister said, “Infrastructure requirements for hosting international games change with time. The Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium was built before 1984 and has difficulty meeting the international standards with its current design, even with the previous upgrades.
“To host international or regional meets, Brunei requires new infrastructures.”
The Sultanate last hosted the SEA Games in 1999 and Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Nazmi said the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport is analysing all sports facilities and plans to develop modern infrastructure that meets the international standards incrementally.
The minister said among the challenges developing new infrastructure is budget constraints, thus new sports facilities will be built through public-private partnership (PPP).
Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Nazmi also said Brunei can still host certain sports meets with its current infrastructure, adding that with the whole-of-nation approach, hosting major international games in the future is not impossible.
The query on hosting international and regional games was raised by LegCo member Yang Berhormat Haji Mohd Salleh bin Haji Othman. – Azlan Othman
