TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday said that if he was given a choice, he would never have hosted the Lusofonia Games, but was forced to do so due to the assurance given by the previous Congress government.
“If given a choice I would never have done the Lusofonia Games. The previous government gave an international assurance,” he said, arguing, “as government is a continuous process, I will organize them”.
However, saying that he would indeed complete all the requirements but “without feelings.”
Speaking about the expenditure he said the actual cost of the games would be around Rs 70-80 crore as around Rs 225 crore would be capital expenditure for setting up infrastructure that would be used even later as well as for the National games.
Lusofonia Games organised by ACOLOP, primarily involves athletes from Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) countries, belonging to the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP).
It also involves other parts of the world, where there are significant Portuguese communities or those that share a common past with Portugal. The founding members are Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Macau (Chinese SAR), Mozambique, Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe.
Associate members of Lusofonia are Equatorial Guinea, India and Sri Lanka.
