Construction of the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town is on schedule and the city is in the process of selling naming rights and finding a long-term operator for it, mayor Helen Zille said on Wednesday.
Zille, who was speaking at the first anniversary celebration of the start of construction, said the naming rights, cost-saving engineering and an advance on ticket sales will help manage the costs of the project.
The stadium is being built in preparation for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, and has been earmarked for a semifinal.
According to mayoral committee member for finance Ian Neilson, the stadium budget, which was estimated at R3-billion, has now gone up to an estimated R4-billion.
He said national government input had been crucial to the project’s success so far.
Zille said the naming-rights contracts would be awarded to companies by the middle of the year.
She thanked the 2 000 workers at the construction site — who last year went on strike more than once — for their ”dedication and hard work under often dangerous conditions”.
She also thanked national government for its ”major financial contribution to the stadium”.
Zille said the project had faced many obstacles so far, the biggest of which was public cynicism and disbelief.
But she hopes the stadium will show that South Africa ”can get it right”.
Zille said the stadium is one third complete and would be ready for handing over to Fifa for inspection by the end of October 2009.
”Today [Wednesday] is a milestone in the stadium project and our preparations for 2010,” she said. — Sapa