World Cup stadium costs soar to R1,5bn

Brian Hayward WEEKEND POST REPORTER haywardb@avusa.co.za

THE projected cost of Nelson Mandela Bay‘s state-of-the-art new World Cup 2010 soccer stadium has rocketed to a massive R1,5-billion – more than double the initial estimate of R711-million.

A steadily weakening rand and import tariffs on materials – such as the 24000m² of aluminium being imported for the stadium‘s designer roof – are said to have been the main contributors to the budget blowout.

The estimated cost of the stadium adjacent to the North End Lake has shown substantial increases from June 2006 when it was suggested it would cost just R711-million. Last year, the projected cost was given as R1,3-billion – up from the estimate of R1,1-billion in October 2006.

Municipal manager Graham Richards said the revised budget for the stadium stood at R1,5-billion because of “escalation in construction costs”.

However, an engineer working on the stadium – who wished not to be named as he was not permitted to speak to the media – said not only had costs spiraled, but the weaker rand meant importing vital materials.

Richards said any shortfall in funds would be covered by the national treasury. “We are working with the national treasury to deal with the escalations,” he said. “The stadium was always going to be funded by national and provincial government.”

Apart from worries over the ballooning cost of the stadium, there is also mounting concern in some quarters over whether the stadium can realistically be completed to meet Fifa‘s strict deadline of March next year – although a municipal spokesman said they were “absolutely, 100% certain the Nelson Mandela Bay multipurpose stadium will be completed within the stipulated timeframes”.

An independent engineer spoken to this week warned that the precarious construction of the stadium‘s modern roof would start at the worst possible time – during the city‘s notoriously wet and windy winter months – which could make meeting the March deadline touch and go.

Chris Allen, Bay planning engineer and director of operations for Advanced 3D Technologies, a company which visualises the construction process, said even the 27-month time frame for completion “would be very tight”.

Allen, whose company is involved with the construction of Soccer City, the 2010 Soccer World Cup stadium on the edge of Soweto, has also worked on construction projects in the UK, Australia and Canada.

“There is a lot of complexity (with regards to the erection of) stadium roofs from an engineering point of view,” he warned. “The erection process is very specialised and complex and their (stadium engineers‘) time-frame for completion is very optimistic.”

The “wind-factor” would be a major issue delaying the project, said Allen.

“Things like wind in the city is an issue, so erecting during winter is probably the worst time when you have large cranes hoisting thousands of tons of materials into the air. Winter construction is harder. You have to deal with rain and pieces of metal become cold and slippery. It becomes a lot harder and slower to work.”

Because erecting the roof was so complicated, Allen said the actual lifting of the steel sections into place, aligning them correctly and maintaining the alignment while bolting them together would be slow and difficult when the wind was even just blowing at 10-15km/h or it was raining, and making it unsafe for workers when the wind speed reached more than 30km/h.

“The structure itself will not be compromised once it is in place, although if the wind blows as much as usual, it won‘t be in place at all.”

Much more money would have to be ploughed into the stadium‘s development to speed up completion, but even that “only works up to a point”, said Allen.

“Once finished, the whole stadium has to be tested. The fire sprinkler systems, fire alarms and automatic gates must all work in accordance with Fifa regulations. Some services, such as landscaping, can only be done after the cranes have gone.”

However, Local Organising Committee head Danny Jordaan this week reiterated that all South Africa‘s 2010 stadiums would be ready in time for the World Cup.

And stadium project manager Gerrie Albertyn was upbeat about the chances of completing the ambitious stadium on time.

“We will be starting on the roof in mid-August and completing it by the second week of January,” he said. “It‘s a fancy roof in its form, so there is no short-cut to it.”

Albertyn said the date for completion was scheduled for the end of March, the same date given by Fifa officials who allowed the Bay a special three-month extension over its fellow Confederation Cup hosts because it was building its stadium from scratch.

“Everything must be completed by March 31,” he said. “We are working with the world‘s largest steel manufacturers as well as top engineers.”

Nelson Mandela Bay spokesman Roland Williams said the municipality was “absolutely, 100% certain that the Nelson Mandela Bay multipurpose stadium will be completed within the stipulated timeframes”.

He added that the stadium development work plan was on course, including the awarding of tenders, of which 95% had been awarded.

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