India must tread with care on Olympics bid
On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially endorsed India’s intention to bid for the 2036 Olympics. An open secret for a long time, this was the country’s first formal courtship to bring the greatest multi-discipline spectacle to these shores. But this is just the beginning of a lengthy process involving years of dialogue, back-channel lobbying, building massive Games-related infrastructure and a lot of money. The country will face several kinds of challenges between now and when the winning bid is announced. For starters, the formal expression of interest ought to come from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). And the IOA’s inability to appoint a CEO has turned it into a sore point.
Modi’s nod means the bid will be readily backed by the government. The general elections half a year away hopefully will not change the intent. There is also the election of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2025. Thomas Bach, the current head of the body, seems to have good relations with India. He is expected to continue, but a change might complicate things.
India will have to identify a city too. New Delhi has the infrastructure—a number of airport terminals, a well-connected metro and many existing venues, to name just a few prerequisites. But what if the capital is not the automatic choice? Ahmedabad may hold sentimental value for the government, but they will have to keep in mind the operating cost and the budget if the infrastructure has to be built from scratch. Considering the money and complexity involved in building an infrastructure worthy of the Olympics, there may be budget overruns too.
There is also the process of convincing the IOC that Ahmedabad is capable of hosting more than 11,000 athletes, as many media persons, volunteers and technical staff for three weeks. The IOC is conscious of leaving behind a legacy and the appeal of taking the Olympics to a country like India is front and centre. But they may wonder about the prospect of some of the infrastructure becoming white elephants once the carnival leaves town. In recent times, Rio de Janeiro (2016), Athens (2004) and South Africa (2010 football World Cup) have suffered after hosting big events. On the one hand, it will lift India’s prestige; on the other, there will be numerous challenges including making the Games sustainable and economically viable.