Long-promised national athletes’ dorm rising soon

PSC chairman Richard “Dickie” Bachmann attends the PSA Forum. –PSA PHOTO

The Philippine Sports Commission under Richard Bachmann will finally start the long-delayed structure that will house national athletes, a project worth an estimated P100 million which will show how valued the country’s national bets are.

A seven-floor building that will include the dormitories of the athletes plus training venues inside Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila now has the funding, and Bachmann said that public bidding for the project is now open with the PSC hoping to have the groundbreaking in August.

“We have already made the preliminary requirements like soil testing and we hope to have the groundbreaking of the new facility in August,’’ said Bachmann.

The athletes’ living quarters have been a well-documented sorry story, and this is what Bachmann hopes to change.

The concept of building the athletes’ quarters and training venues under one roof inside the historic sports complex began during the administration of the President Benigno Aquino III over a decade ago, but never materialized.

Bachmann expressed gratitude to Sen. Pia Cayetano, who inserted the P100 million in the government sports agency’s general appropriations for this year.

The new structure, according to Bachmann, can house at least 180 national athletes.