Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has set aside R15.7 million for “corrective and preventative” maintenance at Cape Town Stadium.
Garreth Bloor, the mayoral committee member for tourism, events and economic development, said: “The Cape Town Stadium has a maintenance strategy to ensure that the current structure, systems and facilities are maintained according to industry standards for structural elements. Such maintenance is essential to prevent potential larger maintenance costs in the future.”
The stadium has been running at an annual loss of R40m since Sail de France terminated its management contract with the city. The operating costs since 2009 are more than R400m.
The city is seeking to change zoning restrictions that will allow it to use the stadium precinct for commercial activities. This process is still under way, as well as a consideration of possible business plan models.
Talks with the South African Rugby Union about moving games from Newlands to the stadium are understood to be continuing.
The city invested R3m in this weekend’s Rugby Championship clash between the Springboks and the Wallabies, with the condition that “the support of this event will assist with current negotiations between the city and Western Province Rugby for future events to be held at the Cape Town Stadium”.
Bloor said the three tenders advertised for upgrades and replacements at the stadium were the “first tranche” of maintenance work. These included a tender for new lifts. The stadium currently has two operational lifts and because of the volume of people passing through the venue during events, an additional four lifts have to be installed.
The second tender was for the upgrade and replacement of the stadium’s turnstiles.
Bloor said the city wanted to replace the British service provider with a local company. Other information technology-related equipment would also be replaced in keeping with international best practice
“The stadium is currently within that five-year (turnaround) cycle and to maintain a good functioning facility, it is prudent to start the process now.”
Cape Argus