President Park Geun-hye called Thursday for thorough preparations for the 2018 Winter Olympics to be held in South Korea amid concerns of construction delays.

South Korea’s alpine city of Pyeongchang won the bid to host the 2018 Olympics, beating Munich, Germany, and Annecy, France, in a vote by the International Olympic Committee in 2011.

South Korea has since faced a number of difficulties in getting the venues ready for its first-ever Winter Olympics. “We should make thorough preparations as not much time is left to ensure the Winter Olympics will serve as a springboard for the development of our tourism and culture industry,” Park said in a meeting at the presidential office.

Her comments came days after the IOC ended rampant speculation that the South Korean host would be asked to co-host the event to save costs. Last month, the IOC passed a reform package, which included a clause granting the host city with the option to stage some competitions in different countries to save costs.

Gunilla Lindberg, head of the IOC’s Coordination Commission on PyeongChang, said last week all scheduled events will be staged in South Korea as originally planned, according to the PyeongChang organizing committee.

Lindberg noted that Pyeongchang has made “good progress,” but timelines remain tight, with test events scheduled to be held in 2016.

Lindberg called on the organizing committee and its partners to continue to accelerate their work and reorganization in order to ensure the successful delivery of the venues and related services. (Yonhap)