Treasury: World Cup Stadiums A "Costly Noose" 3
From The Weekender
THE treasury has questioned whether the R8,4bn it is investing in the construction and refurbishment of stadiums for the 2010 Soccer World Cup will ever generate a return, and not end up being a costly noose around the necks of ratepayers.
Malcolm Simpson, the treasury deputy director-general in charge of the 2010 World Cup preparations, conceded that with hindsight SA should have considered the future viability of the stadiums before bidding, but said “this is (now) history”.
As if people weren’t warning government from the very start about the fact that building new stadiums from scratch in a country where soccer teams struggle to fill half their homes stadiums (unless it’s a Kaizer Chiefs/Orlando Pirates derby) might be a bad idea.
Cape Town’s stadium is a particularly bad investment that is being built in Green Point solely it seems so there will be nice sweeping shots of the stadium, Table Mountain and the sea in one take. Whether it will actually be useful afterwards is another matter.
Jeez, what about the Durban stadium?! Not only will it be completely underused after the games, but King’s Park (ABSA) which is a 50 000 seater, is literally a stone’s throw away from it!
What a WASTE of money it was building the new one. Soccer games were never well supported here and they certainly won’t be after 2010.
I admit living in CT I hear more about the issues with our stadium than other cities, although I’m absolutely sure they’ve all got their own problems.
The manner in which the SA government lays down to FIFA requests is a bit scary. I think Sepp Blatter could ask for a cabinet position at this point and probably get it.
Please no! Not another minister with a bad accent!