Wedding Planner Search Engine Optimisation Bar Paris

Construction for the 2010 Commonwealth Games has stirred controversy among various citizen groups. Here, security guards block protestors from entering a major worksite. (Martin/TYG)

Anil Pandit explains the DDA\'s plans for new Commonwealth Games facilities at Siri Fort in South Delhi (Martin/TYG).

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, pictured in her office at the Delhi Secretariat. (Martin/TYG)

Construction workers take a break outside the Athlete\'s Village site. Some have accused Emaar MGF of mistreating its laborers. (Martin/TYG).

Youth for Justice activists have set up an encampment outside the Athlete\'s Village. Their protests appear to fall on deaf ears within Delhi\'s government (Martin/TYG).

Pandit works in the sports division of the DDA, the government organization responsible for planning and executing the 2010 Commonwealth Games, a high-profile athletic competition that will bring athletes from throughout the former British Commonwealth to Delhi for two weeks of sports events.

The frenzied and often controversial construction of athletic facilities for the Games exemplifies the growth that has overtaken Delhi in the past few decades. The city’s population is increasing by 500,000 people every year, a rate that is double the national average. Economic expansion, meanwhile, has kept pace with the rest of India, bringing hundreds of thousands of new jobs to the city and giving birth to a new middle class.

All this physical development and new wealth has brought great hopes for Delhi’s future, and the city government has set the bar high, vowing to make Delhi what its leaders have called a “world-class” or “model” city in time for the Commonwealth Games, when it will be showcased on the international stage.

The goals for the Games are not misplaced. Nor are they fantasies, at least not by the look of Delhi’s physical progress so far. The quickly expanding infrastructure offers physical evidence of the city’s changing nature and new direction. But problems behind the scenes—in the workings of government, business, and everyday citizens—obscure the vision for a better Delhi and stand in the way of achieving “world-class” status.

The Commonwealth Games offer a test, challenging Delhi to make the jump now. But the hurdles are high.

Playing Host
Every four years the Commonwealth Games bring together thousands of athletes for a competition rivaled only by the Olympics in talent and prestige. In the 78-year history of the Commonwealth Games, the 2010 event is expected to be the biggest yet.

Along with the competitors, of course, come tourists and the media. Hundreds of millions will watch from around the world. With all eyes upon Delhi, the Games will provide an opportunity to showcase the city as an exotic and attractive place to visit, invest in, or live— Delhi’s coming out party to the world, so to speak. And with billions of dollars of Games-related revenue expected, the Commonwealth Games can be very profitable for the host city.

Five years ago, Delhi beat Hamilton, Canada, in the final round of voting to host the 2010 Games. The event, which usually rotates between the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, has been to Asia only once, when Kuala Lumpur played host in 1998. Commonwealth Games Federation CEO Mike Hooper, a New Zealander now living in Delhi to oversee the preparations, admitted that geography played a role in Delhi’s bid for the Games. “Geopolitical matters do come into play, and one of these was perhaps the members’ desire to see the Games move around and be more representative of the Commonwealth,” Hooper told the Globalist.

But he stressed that Delhi’s proposal was impressive regardless of these considerations. The bid included promises to provide the athletes with quiet and high-end housing, to replace the city’s perpetual gridlock with world-class infrastructure, and to modernize its athletic facilities to 21st century standards.

In the five years since being awarded the Games, Delhi has worked to make good on these promises. While the city already has sufficient sports venues left over from hosting the 1982 Asiad Games, a multi- sport event for countries from all over Asia, most of these venues are being refurbished and modernized at great cost. Moreover, throughout the city, infrastructure is being built from scratch.

This work is about more than just throwing the best Games possible. The changes the Games bring to Delhi will affect the city long after the athletes and crowds leave, which means that as it prepares for 2010, the city has to cater to more than just their international guests.