Athlone?s ?ghost? stadium

Cape Town still does not have a plan to make the revamped Athlone Stadium – which cost taxpayers R400 million – sustainable.

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THE CITY of Cape Town still does not have a plan to make the revamped Athlone Stadium – which cost taxpayers R400 million ahead of last year’s World Cup – sustainable.

The council spent more than R406m on the stadium revamp, which included building the new west, north and south grandstands, increasing seating capacity to 25 000, building additional parking areas, VIP suites, better player facilities (including four changing rooms) and installing extra floodlights.

One of the most significant upgrades was the new pitch, the quality of which is similar to that of the Cape Town Stadium.

In July, Thandeka Gqada, the city’s mayoral committee member for community services, said that the city was finalising an “exciting new” stadium business plan which would be presented to the media at the end of July.

But when contacted last week, Gqada said the plan had still not been finalised.

She admitted that the stadium was under-utilised and said the city was “working on ways to make access to the stadium easier for the broader community”.

“We want to make the stadium more affordable, so that the community is able to use it.

“The utilisation is not up to standard. It needs more exposure. There are halls and conference rooms in the stadium that are hardly used.”

Gqada said the city was “working on a plan” to make the stadium sustainable.

“We have identified the needs there and are putting together a good plan.”

Athlone Stadium was one of two World Cup training venues in Cape Town, but only two teams trained there before matches.

After the World Cup, a few local PSL games were played at the venue. President Jacob Zuma also held the national Human Rights Day event there in March.

Kewtown residents are furious and have called on authorities to demolish the stadium, saying it is of no use to them.

Reza Slamdien, who lives near the stadium, said the city was wasting taxpayers’ money on the maintenance of a multimillion-rand facility:

“We thought the minstrel festival would be held here after the World Cup, but there was nothing.”

Alvin Abrahams, one of the people who has been living in the old Athlone Stadium changing rooms in the parking area for a decade, said the city should have built low-cost houses instead of spending millions on an unused stadium.

Abrahams and six families live in the dilapidated structure.

“This stadium is a white elephant – no one uses it.

“No one uses the parking area either, even when there are PSL matches. Driving schools use this parking area to make money.”

Another resident, Llewellyn Wiltos, said the stadium should be opened for schools in the area.

“Here are so many schools and they are always looking for venues for events,” said Wiltos. “This stadium was a waste. The city could have used that money where it is needed, not to impress Fifa.”

City sport and recreation department director Gert Bam was tight-lipped about the stadium’s future.

“We are not looking at developing a business plan per se, but rather a strategy to facilitate increased and more broad-based usage of the facility,” said Bam.

He said the stadium had a variety of facilities on offer, some of which were already being used.

“In both the west as well as the east stand (the latest addition prior to the World Cup) we have various types of facilities including the following: VIP area with seats looking out on to the field, boardroom in the west stand, conference room in both the west and east stand, a number of meeting rooms and banqueting areas.”

Bam said more than 200 000 spectators had participated in events, ceremonies and functions at the stadium since July last year.

“The city’s sport and recreation department has also initiated talks with Santos to explore possible joint marketing opportunities.”

Stadium hire (for the field and change rooms) cost R10 000 a match for professional football teams.

The mayoral suite costs R1 768 a day or part thereof and the individual suites, east and west stands, R2 876 a day.

The amateur rate is R587.60 per six-hour session and a rate of R145.60 per hour after 6pm, he said.

The field and change room charge for amateurs after 6pm is R1 161 and the mayoral suite R694.

Meanwhile, the Philippi Stadium, revamped by the provincial government to the tune of R54m for the World Cup, is being used by the residents and sports clubs for events.

And Cape Town Stadium has hosted concerts and sporting events in the past months.

clayton.barnes@inl.co.za

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/athlone-s-ghost-stadium-1.1163537

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