Zille puts 2010 stadium on hold
2006-03-28 08:41
Theuns van der Westhuizen
Cape Town - The appointment of consultants to plan and design the new Greenpoint stadium was stopped on Monday, pending a detailed report on the financing of the project.
Mayor Helen Zille on Monday ordered the report that must help the Cape Town city council to make an "informed decision" about something which could have a gigantic impact on future generations.
She interrupted an information session on the council's plans on the 2010 Soccer World Cup and said no proper decision could be made on the basis of the available information.
A report with full details of a financing model also has to be submitted to the mayoral committee in a week's time. "We have to see what the impact will be on our tax base, other projects and future generations."
The committee will discuss the report and decide what the council should do. "It's an incredibly difficult decision. We can't spend next year's entire capital budget of R1bn on the Greenpoint stadium while there are still residents without services," she said.
Municipal operations chief Rusj Lehutso was giving a presentation on the envisaged development when Zille interrupted him. He was busy naming the consultants already appointed and which were to be appointed on Monday. He also wanted a mandate from the mayoral committee on whether or not to proceed.
He explained that the 2010 World Cup could bring in an estimated R9.8bn in revenue for the country. Between 350 000 and 400 000 foreign visitors were expected, compared with the 23 000 who came to South Africa for the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
Steps had to be taken to keep the visitors in Cape Town for longer, as well as to get maximum media coverage for the city during the 2010 Cup.
If Cape Town could present a semi-final match, for which the Greenpoint stadium was necessary, it could present seven matches over 27 days. If the city could only be used for preliminary matches at the Athlone stadium, it would present a maximum of four matches over eight days.
About 40 billion people were expected to watch the matches on television, and Cape Town must ensure maximum exposure.
Other opportunities were projects in which Fifa and its sponsors invested. The main sponsor, Coca Cola would for example spend $100m in Fifa and was also expected to spend as much again in South Africa as host country.
The national government indicated that it would spend R3.94bn on stadiums and R1.8bn on transport infrastructure over the next few years, as well as R12bn on the rail recapitalisation programme.
At this stage it seems Cape Town will get R1.5bn for infrastructure development from government, R2bn from tourism and R200m from Fifa, sponsors and the private sector.
But it should be kept in mind that better transport and electricity infrastructure, as well as the multipurpose stadium with 68 000 seats, would be created. The stadium could also be used in future if Cape Town considered presenting the Olympic Games or the Commonwealth Games, he said.