New Delhi, India (CNN) -- A lot of work remains to be done at the venues and athletes' village at the Commonwealth Games in India, just a week before they are due to begin, the head of the games said Saturday.
"It's not over yet. There is still a lot of work to be done," said Mike Fennell, president of the Commonwealth Games Federation.
Fennell spoke to reporters in New Delhi after a week of criticism and concern about safety and security, and the apparent poor state of the athletes' accommodation.
He said the Indian organizing committee was "responding to the needs in a very positive way" and that now was not the time for finger-pointing, with the games due to open Oct. 3.
"I'm well aware that we could say to them this should have been done before, yes, but right now we're concentrating on getting it right, and all systems are geared toward ensuring that the remedial work that's necessary is done and completed in time," Fennell said.
The "great concern" remains safety and security at the athletes' village and making sure the buildings are equipped with the necessary fire and alarm systems, Fennell said.
Organizers scrambled to pull the games together after a pedestrian bridge at a stadium collapsed Tuesday and officials called village accommodation uninhabitable and filthy. Pictures emerged showing soiled rooms that included excrement, exposed wiring, and animal footprints on a mattress.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other top officials got involved. Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram told CNN on Friday that all security issues had been addressed and that the midnight Friday deadline to clean up the venues was met.
Chidambaram said 10 of the 11 village venues had been taken over by security, with another to be taken over shortly. More than 1,000 cleaners entered the athletes' village Friday, armed with brooms, mops and other cleaning supplies to get the facility into shape.
Asked why there hadn't been more monitoring of the progress in the seven years since New Delhi was awarded the games, Fennell said on the contrary, he has noted the poor progress before.
"Last year, when I paid a visit, I made some very critical remarks about what needed to be done, and there were a lot of people that were upset about those remarks at the time," Fennell said. "But I said far more needed to be done very urgently, and I have had visits subsequently ... and we pointed out all along the way what needed to be done. So this is not something that was just discovered now".
Fennell said it is the local organizing committee that is ultimately responsible for the preparation of the games. He pointed out the committee depends on developers to deliver the venues on time, though he said organizers must monitor the progress of that construction.
New Delhi organizing committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi said Fennell was not singling out organizers for blame.
CNN
