Nelspruit 2010 stadium on track

2008-04-23 17:18

Sikonathi Mantshantsha

Nelspruit - Construction of the Mbombela stadium for the 2010 Fifa World Cup in the Mpumalanga city of Nelspruit is well on track and nearly 40% complete.

This emerged on a site tour of the 46 000-seater stadium given by the Mpumalanga provincial government, which was also hosting a trade delegation from the Maputo province of Mozambique.

According to Leon Botha, the stadium's senior engineering technician and project leader, the construction is progressing as originally planned and on budget.

"Except for a few minor Eskom and labour problems we had, everything is progressing well," says Botha.

He was referring to the power crisis facing South Africa - which has resulted in the parastatal embarking on demand-side management through power cuts - and the wage strike late last year by construction workers aligned to the National Union Mineworkers (NUM).

The strike brought work to a standstill for nearly three weeks in November and as late as February this year.

Botha said the issues had been resolved through negotiations with labour representatives and that "negotiations are a continuous affair" in a project of this nature.

"We haven't suffered any load-shedding in the past two months as a result of our own back-up plans," said Botha.

He was speaking a few hours after of the day's scheduled load-shedding that plunged the city into darkness for two hours in the ongoing efforts to meet demand by Eskom. "We installed two generators two months ago."

Botha said the stadium is well on schedule to be completed by May 2009, a year ahead of the soccer showpiece.

Construction materials prices have increased significantly since last year.

Already this year steel producer ArcelorMittal SA has announced three price increases totalling about 68% as a result of "high global" input costs. However, Botha said the project has experienced no unexpected overruns in the budget.

"We have no budget overruns as we had placed all our orders well in advance," said Botha.

- Fin24.com

- Finance24