PE stadium 'most successful'

[bwana]

It's an old part of the city. However in the past year there as been a lot of improvements in the area with residents patching up their houses.

I stay around 500 meters from the stadium and my family owns a restaurant around 200 meters away from the stadium. We have never had an issue with crime in the area and I been living here for the past 5 years. Even though it seems like a run down part of the city, the restaurant my family owns is usually fully booked weeks in advance. (This was happening before the stadium was there btw)

So the area is not as bad as it seems.

Cubata?

 

[cr@zydude]

No, they don't which is exactly my point. Gelvandale Stadium is actually a very nice stadium, revamped for the SWC. Even for the last playoff match that stadium wasn't even half full and that's a stadium with a capacity of 3000! Pity they're not in the PSL any longer.

My point is if EP can play there with their crowd, why were Bay United not offered a similar deal? I love the Gelvandale Stadium, but it's a community facility, not a stadium for a pro sports team. As for the final play off, I was there, and the place looked packed from where I was. I was heart broken during the play offs, one missed penalty in the shoot out sent Jomo Cosmos up instead of Bay United.

But so it is, from here inwards something does need to be done to get a PE team to the PSL.

 

[agerbon]

Cubata?

Yea Cubata

 

[MickeyD]

Cubata?

Been there - great food!

My point is if EP can play there with their crowd, why were Bay United not offered a similar deal? I love the Gelvandale Stadium, but it's a community facility, not a stadium for a pro sports team. As for the final play off, I was there, and the place looked packed from where I was. I was heart broken during the play offs, one missed penalty in the shoot out sent Jomo Cosmos up instead of Bay United.

But so it is, from here inwards something does need to be done to get a PE team to the PSL.

bwana was on the pitch... or next to it, at least!

 

[bwana]

But so it is, from here inwards something does need to be done to get a PE team to the PSL.

According to the Herald article they're working on it.

Yea Cubata

Good - I know who to contact then for a reservation

Called in a favour and managed to get parking nearby.

 

[Alan]

In some way or another PE needed a stadium. The Boet Erasmus Stadium was long past it "Use By" date. That it was expensive and that not everything has gone according to what was promised, I concur and have expressed my feelings about it here on numerous occasions.

If you want to complain about the real big white elephants, then focus on the Peter Mokaba, Cape Town, Mbombela, Soccer City and Moses Mabhida Stadiums.

What kind of loses are they running at in comparison?

 

[rwenzori]

Um, read the article, friends. So it turned over R11 million, big whoop. The thing cost R2.4 billion to build. But these initial costs have been shipped off to the taxpayer and no matter what happens the municipality pays for shortfalls. How does this make it "successful", and if it's the "most successful" out of all the stadiums I shudder to think about the others...

Thank you for posting some sense. What would be the repayment on R2.4billion per annum over 30 years say ( which we are paying in one way or another )? It sounds like the man is saying the R11million can be applied in full to the annual running costs - does that make sense?

God only knows what the real costs of these white elephants are, even in terms of lost opportunity costs.

 

[MickeyD]

What kind of loses are they running at in comparison?

Spot on with the question, Alan. If NMB Stadium is the most successful, just how much are the others losing?

Here are some actual numbers for the NMB Stadium: http://www.peherald.com/news/article/794

Total spending, in the Metro, relating to the 2010 World Cup was R3.4 billion.

Of this National Treasury paid R2.3 billion and Province R222 million.

This left the NMBM with R880 million to fund from its own resources.

This is three quarters of all the expenditure that depleted the Metro's cash resources.

The World Cup was great, but it came at a huge cost.

I leave it to the readers of this column to decide whether a world-class stadium (R2.1 billion); mostly unused transportation infrastructure (R852 million); a training venue (R104 million); "Safety and Security" (R105 million) and "City Regeneration Projects" of R90 million, were worth the cost of entirely depleting the Metro's cash holdings.

From wiki (the source link is dead):

Financing

Original estimates put the cost of the stadium at R895 million, of which the city of Port Elizabeth would have been expected to pay R95 million. This was part of an informal agreement on World Cup stadium funding, whereby local municipalities would cover 10% of costs, provincial government 20% and national treasury would cover the other 70%.

As with other World Cup stadium in South Africa, construction costs for the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium spiralled substantially. It increased from the June 2006 estimated cost of R 711 million, to R 1.5 billion in May 2008, and finally the completed cost of R 2.065 billion. The stadium eventually cost R 2.1 billion to build, of which the city has already paid R 336 million, and may still be laible to pay a shortfall of R 261 million. However, if the shortfalls are calculated based on the 10-20-70 split, then the national government may still owes the city R 70.5 million and provincial government R 191 million. National treasury has so far contributed R 1.375 billion, or 66.5% of the stadium’s cost. Despite this, national treasury has stated that they will not issue more funds to World Cup stadiums.

It appears as though Port Elizabeth residents may make up the short fall through larger rates increases. There will be an extra 2% increase in property rates, an extra 1% increase in water tariffs and sanitation and refuse rates, as well as an extra 4% increase in electricity tariffs.

The stadium's running costs are estimated to be R18 million per year. The stadiums operating company, Access Facilities and Leisure Management, expect to break even by 2012.

 

[za1]

did we not play the rugby there today and win? if so, worth every cent!