THE Davao City-University of the Philippines (UP) Sports Complex swimming pool won’t be ready for the Davao Regional Athletic Association (Davraa) Meet 2019 set in late January.
Former third district representative Isido Ungab, who sourced the initial funding for the sports complex during his term while he was chairperson of the appropriations committee of the House of Representatives, said, “The pool won’t make it in time for the Davraa Meet but it might be finished for the Palaro in April as we are still in the digging part).”
Thus, he suggested that the Davraa Meet 2019 swimming competition be held at the Davao del Norte Sports and Tourism Complex in Tagum City instead as it already has an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
Ungab, however, said the two stadiums were already completed as well as the multi-purpose gyms. The rubber for the track will soon be installed.
The sports complex with a budget of P500 to P600 million, he added, is already on its “finishing touches” stage except for the swimming pool.
He said that Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte Carpio has been instrumental in speeding up the construction of the sports complex.
It can be recalled that former Davao City mayor now President Rodrigo Duterte, Ungab and former SDD-CMO chief and now Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman William I. Ramirez pushed for the sports complex to be built and found a partner in UP, then led by its president Alfredo Pascual, that donated the lot for it.
The PSC also allocated a huge sum to help augment the funds for the construction of the sports complex. (With MLSA)