David Grevemberg, chief executive of Glasgow 2014, who now holds the same role at the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), claimed that staging the event will afford the South African city the opportunity to prioritise projects that will benefit the whole community. 

"There is infrastructure that is brought forward by the Games, but not necessarily for the Games," Grevemberg, attending the inaugural Inter-Regional Sports Policy Summit organised by the International Centre for Sports Security here, told insidethegames. 

"The Games provides a fantastic opportunity to accelerate projects and bring things forward, that should be world-class and community related."

The Athletes' Village built for Glasgow 2014 has now been renovated to provide housing for the community in the Scottish city ©Getty Images

The main benefit to citizens in Glasgow was the Athletes' Village, home to around 7,000 athletes and officials during the Commonwealth Games, but which has now renovated into 300 private homes, 400 homes for social rent and a care home for the elderly containing 120 beds.

A similar model has been proposed by Durban, the only bidder for the Games following the withdrawal last month of Edmonton. 

The plan to redevelop the Village into family accommodation after the Games to meet the city's housing needs.

"We can get a real community cohesion and involvement and I see no reason why that should change at either Gold Coast [2018] or Durban and that's the role of the [CGF] Board and the Organising Committee," said Grevemberg. 

"I think everyone shares that sense of responsibility and we'll hold each other to account in order to achieve that, it's a really important part of the puzzle now."

Mega sports events have faced mounting criticism recently for how much they cost but Glasgow 2014 was delivered £32 million ($48 million/€45 million) under budget.

"We aimed to create a Games that was both affordable and had a universal appeal, we did that by working efficiently and effectively, and we were very outcome focused," said Grevemberg.

"Just because we had the money, didn't mean that we had to spend the money, we also managed our risks with a great degree of seriousness."

Glasgow 2014 bucked the trend by coming in £32 million under budget ©Getty Images

The Games in the Scottish capital saw more than 4,800 athletes from 71 nations competing across 17 sports, cost a total £543 million ($811 million/€769 million), while public funding was £37.2 million ($55.5 million/€52.6 million) less than anticipated.

"Glasgow 2014 was 80 per cent Government funded, for us to be able to spend effectively and to be able to have an underspend like we did, giving money back to the taxpayer is by all means a real success story," Grevemberg said.

"We are delighted to do that, but it was by design and not by accident.

"It wasn't a huge surprise, it was the right Games, at the right time, at the right place."

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