Dikshit's remarks came after Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) President Mike Fennell said yesterday he was distressed by a report that two major venues will not be ready till June next year, barely three months before the opening ceremony.

Dikshit said: "I only keep praying that we won't let the country down.

"There will be areas of concern, but everybody is trying, everybody is on board, the funds are there.

"So we just need to see that it is implemented.

"[But] we will be ready.

"We have got eight months to go.

"Actually, nine months to go but I said eight months.

"And you can see work going on all over Delhi."

The CGF's Coordination Commission said last week that work on the Nehru stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies and the athletics programme will be held of the Games, which are due to open on October 3, 2010, and the swimming complex, was way behind schedule.
 
Fennell said: "We have continuously received assurances on the delivery time-lines for these projects, and to now hear that there are further delays is distressing."

Dikshit said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had formed a Group of Ministers (GOM), which met almost every week to review the preparations.

It held its latest meeting today to review the Coordination Commission's latest report.

Dikshit said: "We meet once a week or eight days.

"We pool our experiences together.

"It is a good system we have set up.

"I only keep praying that we won't let the country down."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]
 

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