Green Point 2010 workers strike
2007-08-27 14:40
Cape Town - Construction work on a new stadium for the next Soccer World Cup in South Africa ground to a halt on Monday after hundreds of builders went on strike in a pay dispute, organisers said.
"The entire workforce has downed tools," Andrew Fenton, project director for the Green Point stadium in Cape Town, said.
Talks were taking place with union representatives, added Fenton, who was confident that the dispute would be resolved "in the next day or so".
Around 800 construction workers are involved in the building of the 68 000-seat stadium which is expected to host one of the two semi-finals when the tournament is staged in Africa for the first time in 2010.
The Green Point project has been dogged by controversy, running into opposition from environmentalists and seeing the cost soar from an initial estimate of R2.5bn to over R3.7bn.
A total of five stadia are due to be built from scratch in time for the tournament while another five are to undergo major revamps.
- AFP