KUCHING: Sarawak is spending more than RM200mil to upgrade 24 sports facilities and construct three new ones in preparation for the 21st Malaysia Games (Sukma) this year.
State Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the three new facilities were nearly completed, comprising a wushu centre, a cricket and rugby, and the Sarawak sports village.
All three facilities are located in Petra Jaya here.
"The rest are all upgrading (existing facilities), some of which are quite extensive.
"For example, for the Sarawak Stadium we are laying a completely new track and repainting the toilets.
"The other one undergoing quite extensive renovation is the MBKS indoor stadium," he told reporters after giving his winding-up speech at the Sarawak Legislative Assembly on Tuesday (May 14).
In his speech earlier, Abdul Karim said his ministry and the Sarawak Sports Corporation were working together to ensure that sports venues were well prepared for Sukma.
He said the upgrading and construction works were expected to be completed by July.
Sarawak will host Sukma from Aug 17 to 24, with events to be held in Kuching, Samarahan, Serian, Sri Aman, Betong, Sibu, Mukah, Bintulu and Miri.
Abdul Karim also told reporters that it would cost over RM300mil to host Sukma, with most of the funds coming from the state government.
He said the state was requesting at least RM100mil from the Federal Government but was still waiting for an answer.
"For the last Sukma that we hosted in 2016, the Federal Government gave us RM40mil, but those Games involved fewer sports and locations," he said.
The coming Sukma is set to be the largest ever with 488 events across 37 sports.
In addition, Abdul Karim said Sarawak was in discussions with Putrajaya on co-hosting the 2027 SEA Games, scheduled to be held in Malaysia.
He said the state was willing to host a number of events but was unlikely to host the entire Games.
"Presently we're still working behind the scenes on this but I believe it will be in our favour," he said.
