Mike Hooper, the chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation, has claimed his organisation should not take the blame for the problems that have plagued the build-up to the event in Delhi.
Several teams have complained about the state of the athletes' village, while preparations have also been affected by failures in the construction of venues.
Last Tuesday a bridge at the Jawaharlal Nehru complex, the centrepiece of the Games, collapsed, leaving more than 20 people injured. Then part of the ceiling at the weightlifting arena fell in on Wednesday.
Hooper claimed that repeated requests from the CGF's coordination commission earlier in the year to speed up construction fell on deaf ears. "When we viewed [the Games village] in March it was clear it was a massive work in progress and a lot of work had to be done," he told BBC radio Five Live today.
"Everybody, including the chefs de mission who came from all the teams, was aware of the construction status. We kept getting shown the various model units that had been done and [were] assured, 'Yes, we realise we are on a tight schedule but we will all get it done and delivered to the same standard.'
"Again, when the coordination commission visited in May, two months after the chefs de mission had been, they were given the same reassurances. The coordination commission stated publicly in its press release that a key concern and key issue was the readiness in particular of the Games village.
"All the warning signs were there. We were pushing very hard, we kept pushing. You can lead a horse to water [but] you can't make it drink. These people just did not understand, or seem to accept the magnitude of the problem.
"There were consistently missed deadlines. The government agencies have let everybody down over here as regards meeting those deadlines. But that said we have to make it the best it can be and that's what we're all hoping to do now."
England will spend their first night in the Games village tonight. A group of approximately 20 support staff will stay in the accommodation to ensure conditions are suitable for 48 athletes from the hockey, lawn bowls and shooting teams, who move in tomorrow. They will be followed by 36 competitors from gymnastics, archery and weightlifting on Tuesday.
England's chef de mission, Craig Hunter, said: "It's not perfect. But we are where we think the accommodation is acceptable for us. The village had the potential to be five star, there's no doubt about that. We're at about three star at the moment.
"It's far from being perfect but it is at a level that we think is acceptable and appropriate for athletes to come to an event and to compete."
Hunter added: "We are now getting back on track with the planned and phased arrival of athletes and we will begin to reach a peak of team numbers on October 5th.
"There is still a lot more to do to be ready for that peak but, meanwhile, I'd like to pay tribute to our support team staff who have worked sometimes literally around the clock to get everything in place and safe for the first athletes' arrival."
The village faced further criticism today, after the Indian boxer Akhil Kumar's bed reportedly collapsing when he sat down on it. "We reached the Olympic Bhavan late in the afternoon to collect our accreditation cards. But when I sat down on my bed to take rest, it collapsed," Kumar, who will compete in the 56kg category, was quoted as saying by the Times of India.
"I checked the bed and part of it had no plywood on it. It was disappointing after enduring a long journey. The athletes are at least entitled to a decent place to rest. Even the toilets are not very clean."