Puello assures Pan Am '2003 tickets will have affordable prices

The president of the Organizing Committee of the XIV Pan American Games (COPAN), doctor Jose Joaquin Puello, assured yesterday that the tickets to attend the competitions are going to have affordable prices, so that the whole population is able to enjoy the games. 

The president of the Organizing Committee of the XIV Pan American Games (COPAN), doctor Jose Joaquin Puello, assured yesterday that the tickets to attend the competitions are going to have affordable prices, so that the whole population is able to enjoy the games. 

Puello explained that a commission of the Organizing Committee is performing an adjustment in the prices of the tickets for the Santo Domingo 2003 Games, which were originally undervalued. 

“The prices we established originally were considerably undervalued in relation to what would be a reasonable for this type of event, taking into consideration the level of the competition, its costs”, declared Puello. 

“The prices that were fixed later on, turned out to be rather high for the purchasing power of the majority of the Dominicans, reason for which right now we are adjusting the prices again”, he added. “The results of this last exercise will be presented to the Government, to President Hipolito Mejia. The Government will make the final decision.”

Puello noted, “The fixing of the prices of the tickets is a governmental policy issue. It must be taken into consideration that the State has performed a huge investment in the Games; and, we as the Organizing Committee are in the obligation of returning the government part of this investment.”

He stated that the revenues collected by the COPAN during the Games would be delivered to the Government. 

He underlined that in the following days the Government will receive, for its analysis, the result of the adjustments being currently performed to the prices of the tickets. 

Puello made no comments about the average price of a ticket to attend the Games, but he promised it would be reasonable. 

The government has invested about four thousand million pesos in the Games, which has been mostly allocated to infrastructure works, including eight sports venues and an amphitheater in the Parque del Este, the remodeling of all the venues of the Centro Olimpico Juan Pable Duarte and the building of some new venues. Other works include the construction of a shooting complex in the Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo; the renovation of la Feria Ganadera venues, for beach volleyball and modern pentathlon competitions; the building of a venue for the equestrian competitions in Palmarejo; a football field in San Cristobal; and the rowing and canoe venues in the Rincon Dam, Bonao. 

It is expected that more than five thousand athletes will compete in 35 sports, during the XIV Pan American Games. Presently, 41 out of the 42 countries members of the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) have already pre-registered. Only Guyana´s pre-registration is pending, and it is still possible

The countries that have already pre-registered in the different competitions are the United States, Cuba, Brazil, Canada, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, Ecuador, Bolivia, Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala and Puerto Rico.

Other countries that have pre-registered are: Jamaica, Haiti, U.S. Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, Barbados, Bahamas, Bermuda, Belize, Santa Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent, Netherlands Antilles (Curazao, Boanire, San Martin, Saint Eustatius and Saba), Aruba, Trinidad and Tobago, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Antigua, Surinam, Granada and the Dominican Republic, which as the host country has a mandatory participation in the competitions of the 35 sports.

The sports to be contended are: water sports (swimming, diving, synchronized swimming and water polo), archery, athletics (track and field, marathon), badminton, basketball, baseball, bowling, boxing, canoe, cycling, equestrian, fencing, water ski, football, gymnastics, weightlifting, field hockey, judo, karate, wrestling, roller skating, jai alai, modern pentathlon, racquetball, rowing, softball, squash, taekwondo, tennis, table tennis, shooting, triathlon, sailing, volleyball (beach and indoor).

Source: http://santodomingo2003.com

Back to the News Archive