State takes hard look at stadium sustainability

Cape Town – The department of sport and recreation is reviewing the future sustainability of stadiums that were built for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, and together with the Development Bank of Southern Africa is consolidating and reviewing the future plans of the host cities.   

In a written reply on Friday to the ANC chair of the sport and recreation committee, Butana Komphela, Minister Makhenkesi Stofile said the review was imperative since the plans were drawn up before the development of stadium designs and there have been changes that could have positive or adverse effects on them.

The review will particularly focus on the guarantees provided by the equipment manufacturers, especially guarantees provided against corrosion of roof structures.

The study will also look at the estimated annual operating and maintenance costs of the stadium, and how municipalities intend to finance these during the next 10 years.

It will also review the original assumptions on operations and maintenance plans, identify gaps and corrective intervention, and make sure there is a business model to ensure financial sustainability.

At the same time the department is developing a national sports venues strategic framework, which will focus on national venues (stadiums as well as indoor and outdoor venues and arenas) with the seating capacity for more than 5 000.

As part of the framework, sport and recreation envisages setting up an independent sports venues technical team, which would be responsible for monitoring, evaluation and technical advisory service.

The team will conduct regular scheduled and unscheduled on-site visits, provide independent assessment and recommendations on the venues and explore the possibility of extending the functions to include certification powers in line with relevant legislation, even though the municipalities already have the authority to issue safety certificates.

The department also plans to set up a stakeholders forum to provide effective coordination of national venues management and to address challenges and risks such as unhealthy competition among venues.

Ideally, Stofile said, the forum would exclude stadium managements but will include other national government institutions, and provincial departments responsible for sport and recreation, the municipalities (including host cities) the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee and national sport federations.