Peru rushes to complete preparations for 2019 Pan Am Games

Lima —  Construction on the main venues for the 2019 Pan American Games in the Peruvian capital is entering the final stage with noticeable progress, but plenty remains to be done ahead of the July 26 inauguration.

While most of the key venues are expected to ready in March, some will likely not be finished until a few weeks before the games.

The largest single project is the Villa Panamericana, a complex of seven towers comprising 1,096 apartments that will house some 8,000 athletes and support staff during the games.

The towers, each 20 stories tall, are up, and the focus is now on applying the finishing touches to the interiors and to landscaping in the exterior areas.

Work on the Villa Panamericana is scheduled to be complete by the end of March.

That is also the target date for improvements to Villa Deportiva Nacional, the flagship venue, which is to host track-and-field events, badminton, handball, bowling, track cycling, diving, judo, swimming, figure skating, squash and table tennis.

The complex will include an aquatic center with three additional pools, a 24-lane bowling alley, improvements to the existing track-and-field stadium and a roof for the velodrome.

While much of the work is already done, organizers don’t expect the aquatic center to be completed before the end of May.

At the Villa Deportiva Regional in Callao, next door to Lima, workers have erected a 6,000-seat pavilion for the volleyball and taekwondo competitions and will construct two racquetball courts.

Miguel Grau Coliseum is being refitted to host wrestling and boxing matches and the stadium at Lima’s University of San Marcos has been renovated with synthetic turf, dressing rooms and 22,000 additional seats for soccer matches.

The Andres Avelino Caceres sports complex is getting new fields for field hockey and rugby, softball and baseball diamonds, four basketball courts, an Olympic-sized pool for water polo and space for 8,500 spectators, among other upgrades.

In Lima’s Villa El Salvador district, near the Villa Panamericana, work is underway on a 5,000-seat pavilion for karate and judo events.