Cape Town - Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille is to officially open the Green Point Athletics Stadium on Wednesday after a delay of more than a year.
The Cape Times reported last month that the R85 million athletics facility should have been opened at the end of 2013 after construction began in January 2012.
City spokeswoman Priya Reddy said at the time that a former contractor’s inability to complete the work had been the main cause of the delay.
“Despite committing to an extended completion date, the contractor failed to honour this commitment, which led to the city terminating the contract. The contractor has incidentally also run into problems with other contracts and a provisional liquidation order was granted against the contractor in June 2014,” she said.
Filcon Projects, the contracting company originally hired by the city, was involved in controversy when R400m in government projects in the Western Cape were either cancelled, halted or jeopardised after it was forced to file for business rescue.
The chairman of Filcon was South African Saul Loggenberg, who was barred in the UK from being a company director until 2024 by the British Insolvency Service.
The construction cost of the athletics stadium was an estimated R85m, which included money spent on the stadium’s tartan track and a stand with seating for 4 500 spectators, upgraded to accommodate an additional 1 000 spectators.
The stadium has been promoted as the premier location for athletics in Cape Town and the city said it would officially be available for use from Wednesday.
“The Green Point Athletics Stadium has met the technical standards set by the International Association of Athletics Federations, making it a world-class facility,” the city said.
Cape TImes