Aklan Calangcang Sports Complex construction nears halfway
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

KALIBO, Aklan – The provincial government is on target to complete the modern sports facilities for the regional athletic meet next year.
Aklan Calangcang Sports Complex will be the venue of the weeklong West Visayas Regional Athletic Association (WVRAA) meet in February 2010.
Provincial Engineer Victory Fernandez said the Phase I involving P25-million is almost 60 percent completed and the P20-million Phase III rehabilitation and upgrading of the eight-lanes Olympic-sized swimming pool and construction of main grandstand is also 40 percent completed.
Fernandez said the remaining work in Phase I is the asphalting of the rubberized oval. The 40 percent civil works will be completed in one week, he added.
“The constructor is committed to finish the sport facility before the regional athletic competition. A round-the-clock assessment and evaluation and overtime works of the projects have been on going to meet the deadline,” Fernandez said.
Phase II or the laying of the rubberized track and field, which has a P35-million appropriation, has yet to start and is dependent on the completion of Phase I. Once the Phase I has already been completed, the synthetic rubber will then be overlaid.
“We will have additional works and variation orders in the implementation of Phase II and it would take the contractor of the newly rubberized oval at least one month to complete,” he said.

Fernandez said the P55-million funding from a government bank covers the construction of rubberized track and field oval and main grandstand while the rest of the P86-million budget for the sports complex is funded by the Local School Board and the provincial government.
Aklan Governor Carlito Marquez entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on April 23, 2009 with the Aklan State University (ASU) for the construction, development, management, operation, maintenance and control of the sports facility.
Aklan province is hosting one of the major regional sports events in 15 years in a 6.5-hectare ASU-property in Barangay Calangcang, Makato, Aklan for some 2,500 athletes from Capiz, Iloilo, Aklan, Guimaras, Negros Occidental and Antique.