The master plan will include detailed information on all the major building blocks required to set-up the operational structures for the Games.

The London-based firm, headed by former London 2012 chairman and British Olympic Association chief Sebastian Coe, will work with a number of stakeholders in the build-up to the Games.

These will AIMAG Executive Preparations Committee, the Turkmenistan Government, the Turkmenistan National Olympic Committee, sport federations involved in the Games, as well as with Polimeks, the contractor building the Ashgabat Olympic Complex.

The Ashgabat Olympic Complex, estimated to cost around $5 billion (£3.5 billion/€4 billion), is due to host the Games and will feature 10 competition venues including two indoor arenas, a velodrome, an indoor athletics facility, tennis centre and an aquatics centre, which are currently under construction.

An Athletes' Village is also being built, and is set to contain 12,000 beds once completed.

"Turkmenistan has state-of-the-art venues within the Ashgabat Olympic Complex and we are delighted to be working with the Turkmen Government to develop a world-class master plan fit for such high-quality facilities," said Chris Pollard, director of CSM Strategic and programme director for the master plan

"We will draw on our experience from numerous major events over the past decade to deliver a comprehensive plan that will enable Turkmenistan to stage an outstanding Games in 2017."

The Ashgabat Olympic Complex will feature 17 sports taking place across 10 competition venues during the 2017 AIMAG ©CSM Strategic



CSM Strategic, formally known as pmplegacy, is the international strategic consultancy arm of CSM which is made up of several companies, including Fast Track, Icon and iLuka, under the umbrella of Chime Communications.

It was founded by Munich 1972 Olympic silver medallist Alan Pascoe and its clients include Lucozade, Emirates, Adidas and McDonald's.

The firm helped to secure a number of lucrative contracts at London 2012 and has worked with a range of Games bids and Organising Committees in recent years, including the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, the Baku 2015 European Games and Rugby World Cup 2015 in England.

The company also worked as a consultant on the unsuccessful Madrid bid for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games awarded to Rio de Janeiro and England's bid for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which went to Russia.

The 2017 AIMAG is set to feature more than 5,000 athletes from 62 countries competing across 17 sports.

Last year's AIMAG took place in Incheon, South Korea.

Ashgabat was awarded the Games in 2010 by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and are part of an ambitious strategy that is expected to include future Turkmenistan bids for the Asian Games with the ultimate goal of staging an Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Turkmenistan is also due to host the 2015 OCA General Assembly.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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