• From: AAP
  • November 11, 2011 12:00AM

GAMES: Australian officials desperate for the Gold Coast to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games reckon it’s all about trust.

The Gold Coast is bidding against unheralded Sri Lankan coastal town Hambantota to host the 2018 Games.

A decision will be made by the Commonwealth Games Federation general assembly tomorrow (AEDT).

While Gold Coast is considered favourite, officials have been making last ditch pitches ahead of the vote in St Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean.

Seventy-one Commonwealth Games associations will vote, with Australia delivering last-minute messages to delegates.

"What delegates want to know is, do we know the people who are actually making the promises?" Australian Commonwealth Games Association chief executive Perry Crosswhite said.

Crosswhite, a triple Olympian and long-serving sports official, and his association’s president, Sam Coffa, have taken prominence in their roles on the Gold Coast bid committee.

"We have been right up in front," Crosswhite said.

"We’re saying: ‘We have been around a long time, we were at past Games with you, you can trust us _ we’re going to make sure that whatever is said by the government or the private sector or anyone else is delivered.’ "

Hambantota, a town devastated by the 2004 tsunami, is selling its bid as a nation-building event for Sri Lanka.

The town has no international airport, accommodation of just 1009 hotel rooms, one sporting stadium, untested security and lacks the telecommunications technology necessary to host the Games.

But the Sri Lankan government has committed to spending about 60 per cent of the required $1.71 billion needed to build required infrastructure.

In contrast, the Gold Coast bid highlighted current infrastructure, with almost 80 per cent of proposed Games venues already existing, mature security and plentiful accommodation.

The Queensland government guaranteed to fund any shortfall in a non-organising committee capital expenditure program of about $890 million, which includes $620 million for the Games village and $105 million for six new Games venues.

The Commonwealth Games Federation’s evaluation commission described the Hambantota bid as a medium to high risk, compared with the low risk of the Gold Coast.

Sri Lanka has sent a hopeful 60-strong delegation to the Caribbean.

The result of the vote will be known at 9am (AEDT) tomorrow.