Work to upgrade the National Sports Complex in Bukit Jalil is expected to be completed in July, one month ahead of the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games (Aug 19-31).

Malaysia Stadium Corporation (MSC) chief executive officer Azman Fahmi Osman said the athletes will only be allowed to train in the venues after obtaining the approval of the authorities.

"This has been communicated to the athletes and the sports associations. However, we are mulling the option of allowing the athletes to train before July since some of the venues will be completed earlier.

"Our priority is the safety of athletes since there are a lot of heavy equipment in the construction area. We will decide on this later," he told Bernama here, today.

The first phase scheduled for completion in July involve the National Stadium, the Putra Stadium, the National Aquatic Centre and the National Hockey Stadium, costing some RM500 million.

The National Hockey Stadium is expected to be completed in April followed by the Putra Stadium, the National Aquatic Centre and the National Stadium.

The project's developer, Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB) expects the construction work to be completed in July.

Azman said the second phase involving the KL Sports City project costing RM1.1 billion will begin in early 2018.

A subsidiary of MRCB, Rukun Juang Sdn Bhd (RJSB), was appointed as the main developer of KL Sports City in October 2015. - BERNAMA