Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has approved the final building plan for the Green Point stadium, the venue for the 2010 FIFA World Cup semi-finals.
The initial plan had to be revised after the rezoning of the land in Fritz Sonnenberg Road, Green Point, and the obtaining of environmental authorisation for the development.
"The revised building plans for the Green Point multi-purpose stadium for the 2010 Soccer World Cup were approved by the City of Cape Town at a special council meeting held on Monday. This is a major milestone in the project," the city said in a statement.
The design of the stadium was revised to reduce the overall building size and height to meet the available budget.
The 68 000 seating capacity, however, remained unchanged.
While original building plans were advertised for comment in January and February this year, the revised plans were advertised during May and June 2007, and additional objections were received by the closing date of 7 June 2007.
The plans have also been circulated to the relevant city departments for comment.
"Until now, the foundations of the stadium have been under construction on the basis of two provisional building plan authorisations.
"The city followed this route to make sure it remained legally compliant as the construction progressed. We have stayed within these authorisations at all times," said Cape Town's Executive Mayor, Helen Zille.
Following the approval, the mayor said that the structure would soon rise above the ground level, saying three final tenders for a long-term operator of the stadium were currently being assessed.
"The operator will have to run the stadium in a sustainable way," she noted, adding that "the operator will also be expected to produce income for the maintenance of the sport, recreation, park and walkway precinct proposed for the reconfigured Green Point Common.
Ms Zille told the council the stadium project had extremely tight deadlines for the upcoming World Cup 2010 event, saying "we cannot afford any delay."
"We are also confident that Cape Town will be able to make the most of the 2010 matches and events, following the recent '90 Minutes for Mandela Match' played between an African and World eleven at Newlands on 18 July," she said.
She further said that the"90 Minutes for Mandela Match" showed that Cape Town soccer lovers could fill a stadium and create exactly the kind of atmosphere and excitement that the country wants the world to see in 2010.
World Cup fixtures will be played in ten stadia across the country, of which half are being renovated to comply with FIFA's requirements and the other half to be built from scratch.
Construction has started on all the five arenas to be newly built.
Renovations to four of the stadiums set to host 2010 fixtures would be complete by December 2008.
These stadiums are Vodacom Park in Mangaung, Royal Bafokeng in Rustenburg, Loftus stadium in Pretoria and Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
Those that will be completed by October 2009 are Mbombela in Nelspruit, Peter Mokaba (Polokwane), Nelson Mandela Bay, Green Point (Cape Town) Moses Mabhida (Durban) and the Soccer City in Johannesburg. -
The initial plan had to be revised after the rezoning of the land in Fritz Sonnenberg Road, Green Point, and the obtaining of environmental authorisation for the development.
"The revised building plans for the Green Point multi-purpose stadium for the 2010 Soccer World Cup were approved by the City of Cape Town at a special council meeting held on Monday. This is a major milestone in the project," the city said in a statement.
The design of the stadium was revised to reduce the overall building size and height to meet the available budget.
The 68 000 seating capacity, however, remained unchanged.
While original building plans were advertised for comment in January and February this year, the revised plans were advertised during May and June 2007, and additional objections were received by the closing date of 7 June 2007.
The plans have also been circulated to the relevant city departments for comment.
"Until now, the foundations of the stadium have been under construction on the basis of two provisional building plan authorisations.
"The city followed this route to make sure it remained legally compliant as the construction progressed. We have stayed within these authorisations at all times," said Cape Town's Executive Mayor, Helen Zille.
Following the approval, the mayor said that the structure would soon rise above the ground level, saying three final tenders for a long-term operator of the stadium were currently being assessed.
"The operator will have to run the stadium in a sustainable way," she noted, adding that "the operator will also be expected to produce income for the maintenance of the sport, recreation, park and walkway precinct proposed for the reconfigured Green Point Common.
Ms Zille told the council the stadium project had extremely tight deadlines for the upcoming World Cup 2010 event, saying "we cannot afford any delay."
"We are also confident that Cape Town will be able to make the most of the 2010 matches and events, following the recent '90 Minutes for Mandela Match' played between an African and World eleven at Newlands on 18 July," she said.
She further said that the"90 Minutes for Mandela Match" showed that Cape Town soccer lovers could fill a stadium and create exactly the kind of atmosphere and excitement that the country wants the world to see in 2010.
World Cup fixtures will be played in ten stadia across the country, of which half are being renovated to comply with FIFA's requirements and the other half to be built from scratch.
Construction has started on all the five arenas to be newly built.
Renovations to four of the stadiums set to host 2010 fixtures would be complete by December 2008.
These stadiums are Vodacom Park in Mangaung, Royal Bafokeng in Rustenburg, Loftus stadium in Pretoria and Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
Those that will be completed by October 2009 are Mbombela in Nelspruit, Peter Mokaba (Polokwane), Nelson Mandela Bay, Green Point (Cape Town) Moses Mabhida (Durban) and the Soccer City in Johannesburg. -
By Themba Gadebe BuaNews
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