Delhi's Common-poverty Games

Few would describe Delhi as a calm and peaceful city. But the  noise pollution has reached a crescendo recently as construction workers  toil day and night. This October, once the baking north Indian summer  has eased, Delhi will stage the 2010 Commonwealth Games. In a city where  millions live in utter destitution, vast stadiums are being constructed  at immense cost.

Developers keen to cash in on the anticipated  influx of visitors are building a rash of new hotels. Construction  workers can be seen on building sites throughout the city without  hardhats or even shoes, their small children beside them as they break  stones.

No city as poor as this has ever attempted to stage such  a tournament. The promise is that the Games will herald a new chapter  in Delhi's history, enhancing its international reputation and providing  a major and lasting economic boost.

But Delhi may have been sold  a lie. The legacy of staging major sporting events is, at best, patchy.  Athens was sold the same dream. When the Greek capital won the right to  stage the 2004 Olympics it was billed as an opportunity for renewed  wealth and glory for this most ancient of cities. But the legacy is a  Greek tragedy of immense financial debt. Up to 21 of the 22 stadiums  built for the Olympics now lie  abandoned. Some have become gypsy camps. The Athens  Olympics cost a reported £9.4bn, leaving a debt of €50,000 for each  Greek household. Six years later, Greece is on the precipice of utter  economic ruin.

But Delhi builds on. High fences are being erected  to hide unsightly slums from the anticipated visitors. In the words of  the Indian Express newspaper: "If you don’t see it, it doesn’t exist.  That seems to be the view of the authorities."

The event offers  the Delhi authorities the chance to sell the lie of the shining new  India. This is a country which has higher rates of child malnutrition  than sub-Saharan Africa, but which also puts satellites into space. Now  Delhi is spending immense sums on a sporting event - even diverting funds  specifically earmarked for anti-poverty measures.

At  first, the fear was that the city's notoriously terrible transport  infrastructure would creak under the pressure of Commonwealth Games  visitors. But the new fear is quite the opposite.

South Africa,  another country of extreme wealth disparity, is hosting the  football World Cup. Hoteliers in the country have reported an alarmingly  low levels of uptake for hotel rooms. According to the  Daily Telegraph: "Many spent thousands of pounds renovating their  properties and are struggling to recoup the costs. Thomas Cook has  already slashed travel prices by more than £1,000 after only half the  expected 500,000 fans booked flights to see matches live."

The  World Cup, the globe's most popular sporting event, is threatening to be  an economic dud. What chance, therefore, does Delhi have with the  Commonwealth Games? In the global economic downturn, Delhi has been  persuaded to stage a cripplingly expensive party, and the guests might  not even turn up.