13 May 2008

Cooks confident China mini games loan issue will be resolved

3:20 pm on 13 May 2008

The Cook Islands government is confident a new stadium will be ready for next year's Mini Games.

The China Import Export Bank has issued an ultimatum to the Cook Islands threatening to withdraw a multi million US dollars soft loan to fund a stadium for next year's games.

The minister in charge of the Cook Islands Investment Corporation says Chinese officials were asking for the new building plans for the stadium.

Tangata Vavia says he has given the plans to the Chinese last week, and he is certain that the bank will approve the new plan and hand out the loan.

"We hope that the Chinese bank would get back to us in time so that the work can continue or so that we know what the situation is. We've got a work plan in place that the work itself would [start] in July, with the time in place we should have that finished [before the games]."

Tangata Vavia says the government has no alternative funding plans for the stadium.