Category Archives: stadium

Mercury: View leaves dignitaries emotional, speechless, tearful

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We do not see Sutcliffe weeping when the poor burn, live without proper access to taps, face illegal eviction, are attacked by his police and private security….

http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5068702

View leaves dignitaries emotional, speechless, tearful

July 06, 2009 Edition 1

Colleen Dardagan

NOT UNLIKE the Sydney Bridge or the London Eye, the 106m arch over Durban’s R3.1 billion Moses Mabhida Stadium offers spectacular views across the city and the ocean – and, on a clear day, all the way to the Drakensberg.

On Friday, after taking the first ride in the R20 million “cable car”, or funicular mounted on the arch, local dignitaries were emotional or speechless, while some described the moment as the realisation of a dream.

Eyes filled with tears, municipal manager Michael Sutcliffe took pictures of the sweeping views while Mayor Obed Mlaba repeatedly clapped his hands above his head, before shouting: “Durban has done it! Durban has done it!”

The head of strategic projects and 2010 planning in the municipality, Julie-May Ellingson, beamed from ear to ear as she quietly surveyed the sprawling city and ocean beneath her.

The ride in the Italian-made glass funicular, which travels 2.1m a second and carries a maximum of 25 people, was smooth.

At the top, the doors clicked open to allow Mlaba to be the first to step on to the viewing platform.

“There are other views around (the world) where you can look at whole cities, but never from right on top of a football pitch,” he said.

Beat Musfeld of Garaventa, the company which supplied and installed the new funicular, said this was the first such project in the world.

“We have never built and installed one of these on a stadium. There are many in the Alps, and the biggest one, which can carry 400 people at a time, was installed in Hong Kong.”

Musfeld said the vehicle on the arch was a funicular and not a cable car.

“Cable cars hang from cables; this is a funicular, which is winch driven and travels on tracks.

“It has variable speeds, but we have set this one to its slowest, because it’s about the ride, not only the destination.”

Ellingson said the price for a ticket to the top was yet to be determined.

“We think between R60 and R90, because we want to make it affordable for everyone,” she said.

Ellingson said the funicular would be open to the public in a few months.

Mercury: Durban stadium to cost R500m more

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http://www.themercury.co.za/?fArticleId=4813556

Durban stadium to cost R500m more

January 28, 2009 Edition 1

Colleen Dardagan

Durban’s 2010 stadium will finally cost R3.1 billion, R500 million more than originally expected, but ratepayers will not be asked to foot the bill and there is no crisis about the funding of the massive structure.

This is according to municipal manager Michael Sutcliffe, who told a sitting of the city’s executive council yesterday that a full report on the stadium costs was pending a decision by the national treasury, on what allocations would be made to cities to meet escalating infrastructure costs related to the 2010 World Cup.

“The original cost of the stadium was R2.6 billion – with R1.8 billion coming from the national treasury, R500 million from the city and R300 million from the provincial treasury. The city has already allocated the R500 million, and province their R300 million. However, we are still inquiring with the national treasury what its contribution will be to cover escalations, which are provided for in the Division of Revenue Act,” he said.

Sutcliffe told The Mercury that the stadium could finally cost R3.1 billion.

“I know there is going to be a negative reaction and some might get confused, but there is no crisis. Durban residents have already made a huge contribution to the stadium and I don’t want them to contribute any more. We’ve already been given extra funds from the national treasury during the 2008/09 financial year to cover escalations, but only once the Budget is announced in two weeks will we have a clearer picture of what will be allocated to deal with further escalations.”

According to industry specialists, steel prices escalated by more than 70% and cement by more than 20% last year.

National treasury spokesman Thoraya Pandy confirmed that just more than R1.8 billion had been appropriated during the 2008/09 financial year to the city of Durban. However, she would not comment on any further allocations. “If there is to be anything extra, that will be announced in the Budget speech on February 11.”

Sutcliffe also believed Durban had not had a fair deal.

“I am hoping the Budget will show more equity,” he said. “We really have a problem with the formula they used to work out the allocation of funds for the different stadiums. It resulted in Cape Town getting more money than us. Their stadium is exactly the same size as ours. So we are hoping there will be some equity in the allocation.”

However, Pandy denied the allegation. “According to the formula we used, there was no preferential treatment,” she said.