Indonesia gears up for Asian Games, Moto GP Grand Prix

The Indonesian government on Monday checked preparation for hosting the Asian Games in 2018 and the Indonesian Moto GP Grand Prix 2017 to ensure that the two international sport events to be held successfully.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo held a cabinet meeting on Monday to make sure that the preparation is on track and order to speed up all the works.

"I want to ask again particularly about the preparation of venues," Widodo said.

During the meeting, Widodo put a target that all the preparation of venues will be completed this year.

The president urged for acceleration as the time is limited.

"The details are important as the time for the event to kick off is near. We must work much faster," he said.

Widodo also checked the preparation of other facilities, the transportion in particular.

Indonesia has only a four-year period for preparation compared with the normal and usual time of six years.

The country was awarded to host the Asian Games in September 2014 following the withdrawal of original host Vietnam due to economic reason.

The Asian Games are to be held in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, and the provinces of South Sumatra, West Java, and Banten, according to the presidential office.

A monitoring post will also be set up at the main sport stadium in Jakarta to inspect the progress of the preparation works, Sport Minister Imam Nahrowi has told Xinhua.

Indonesia targets to be among the top five at the sport event with 10-18 gold medals, Djoko Pekik Irianto, a deputy in the sport ministry has said.

On the Indonesian Moto GP Grand Prix, Widodo also stressed the need to speed up the preparation and make calculation of several alternatives of circuits to be used. Endite