Durban unveils World Cup stadium
19 June 2006
The design for Durban's new King Senzangakhona Stadium, which will host a 2010 Fifa World Cup semifinal, was unveiled on Thursday. Named after King Shaka's father, the stadium will cost R1.6-billion to build and be able to seat up to 80 000 soccer fans.
The most prominent feature of the new stadium, to be built on the site of the existing football stadium, will be the 30-storey arch stretching its entire length.
Sports precinct
King Senzangakhona Stadium, which is expected to be completed by December 2008, will also have an athletics track and underground parking for 10 000 cars.
The stadium will be built next to the existing Absa Stadium, home of the Sharks rugby team. Walter Gilbert Road, which runs between the two stadiums, will be converted into a pedestrian walkway. The area is to be developed into a sports precinct, with Olympic-class facilities for football, athletics and swimming all in close proximity.
Plans for a railway station next to the stadium are also being discussed by Spoornet.
'Durban ready and willing'
Speaking at the announcement, KwaZulu-Natal premier S'bu Ndebele said: "Nowhere in the province is there a structure worth R1.6-billion. There is much that needs to be done."
Ndebele also highlighted the construction of the King Shaka Airport at La Mercy, another 2010 project. Ndebele said that these projects would give Durban and the province a significant slice of the estimated R21-billion in tourism spin-offs that the country expects from the World Cup.
"Durban today signals that we are ready, willing, geared up and getting kitted out for 2010," said Mayor Obed Mlaba.
More technical details about the stadium were not released. Details about how the stadium's construction would be financed were also not made known, but it is believed that eThekwini Municipality is in negotiations with the provincial and national governments.
Sapa reports eThekwini municipal manager Mike Sutcliffe as saying that the winning Ibhola Lethu consortium had a strong black empowerment contingent as well as a German connection.
Details of the tender process or consortia were not immediately available. Six consortiums were short-listed in April and made their final submissions on 29 May.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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