Today at noon, President of Peru, Martín Vizcarra Cornejo, visited the modern facilities of the Pan American and Parapan American Village, located in Villa El Salvador. He was accompanied by various ministers and Lima 2019 Executive President, Carlos Neuhaus. President Vizcarra was satisfied with the great progress made so far and with the accessibility of the facilities for people and athletes with impairments. “This is a first-class facility, worthy of elite athletes.
In a symbolic way, we are accompanied by four of the 700 athletes who will represent Peru, and that’s the reason for this facility: to support them but also to encourage millions of Peruvian children to practice sports and have a healthy life. That is the other legacy of the Games, a change in attitude. It’s not only about leaving behind stadiums, coliseums or apartments, but also about taking back that space that’s being used for unhealthy activities. Athletes have to be a good example for children. Children have to find their new heroes,” said the President.
Accompanied by the Minister of Education Daniel Alfaro, Minister of Production Raúl Pérez-Reyes, Minister of Development and Social Inclusion Liliana La Rosa and Deputy Minister of Communications Virginia Nakagawa, President Vizcarra welcomed the presence of Pilar Jáuregui of Para badminton, Fiorella Cueva and Óscar Terrones of weightlifting and Alonso Wong of judo, with whom he visited the Pan American Village. The Village consist of seven towers, with all the accessibility required by athletes with impairments. This facility comprises 1096 70-m2 and 75-m2 apartments that will welcome close to 7000 athletes for the Pan American Games and close to 3000 athletes for the Parapan American Games.
“Exactly two years ago, in February of 2017, we came here with Carlos Neuhaus and there was absolutely nothing. We arrived with tractors, front-end loaders, dump trucks to start leveling the ground. Building 1096 apartments seemed like a difficult challenge. It’s February, five months before the Games and they are already built. We have verified the characteristics and we are very happy with the progress. We are all a part of the Pan American Games. We will then go to Callao, to the San Marcos Stadium, to Villa María del Triunfo. The Lima 2019 Games are Peru’s Games and will be a complete success,” said the President.
The seven buildings have four elevators each, with capacity for 18 people and easy wheelchair access, as well as tactile raised floors, braille signage and other facilities for athletes with an impairment.
“We came here with the President when he was Minister of Transport to see the earthworks while the bidding process was underway and we saved a lot of time. On July 17 of last year, the towers were already built and now they have water, light, gas, so they are ready to be delivered at the end of the month. The width of the towers’ hallways is 1.80 m and they have two isolated emergency rooms on each floor in case of an emergency. This project was the first great challenge. If we didn’t have a place for the athletes to stay, we didn’t have the Games,” said Lima 2019 Executive President, Carlos Neuhaus.
The Lima 2019 Pan American Games will take place from July 26 to August 11, 2019, and 39 sports will be contested, while the Parapan American Games will be from August 23 to September 1, and there will be 18 sports.