Cape Town names 2010 venue
Clive Ndou
20 July 2006
A study to determine Cape Town's most suitable venue for 2010 Fifa World Cup matches has identified Green Point Stadium as the favourite.
The study found that, given the relatively short time for construction work to be completed, Green Point was the only stadium that stood a reasonable chance of meeting Fifa's specifications.
Cape Town has been nominated to host the 2010 semi-finals on condition that it provides a stadium which can accommodate at least 68 000 spectators.
Releasing the study's findings on Thursday, Cape Town's director of sports and recreation, Mike Marsden, said that stadiums such as Newlands and Culemborg were found to be unsuitable.
"Green Point is the only feasible venue for a 68 000 semi-final given the time constraints," Marsden said, adding that developing the stadium to Fifa standards would require an investment of around R4.3-billion.
"The maximum capital contribution council can make towards this is
R400-million," Marsden said. "The rest will have to come from the national government and other stakeholders."
Construction work will begin in January 2007, so long as the national government makes its allocation towards the development of the stadium, Marsden said.
According to the study, it will take around 35 months for the construction work to be completed.
To ensure that the stadium is financially sustainable after 2010, Marsden said the City would try to convince local professional rugby and soccer teams to use the venue as their home ground after 2010.
Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille said the city would be bidding for the opening game of the tournament to be held in Cape Town.
Source: BuaNews
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