The Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon (WHBO)/Paul joint venture (JV) has won the R716,78-million tender to construct the Peter Mokaba sports complex in Polokwane for the 2010 soccer World Cup, city spokesperson Simon Mokoatedi said.
In a response to emailed questions, he said that the Polokwane municipality had handed over the site for the 45 000-seater stadium on Friday and that construction was now expected to start “soon”.Late last week, the municipality appointed the WBHO/Paul JV as principal contractor, sinking the hopes of the Concor-Hotchief-Motheo consortium, which also had preferred bidder status, to build the Peter Mokaba sports complex.
The final awarding of the tender had been held back by unspecified delays and a funding shortfall, all which were resolved this month.The Peter Mokaba complex is one of five new stadiums that will be built in preparation for the 2010 soccer World Cup, together with the King Senzangakhona stadium, in Durban, the Nelson Mandela stadium, in Port Elizabeth, the Mbombela stadium, in Nelspruit and the Green Point stadium, in Cape Town.
The final awarding of the tender had been held back by unspecified delays and a funding shortfall
The City of Cape Town signed the R2,85-billion contract to build the 68 000-seater stadium with construction firms M&R and WBHO last week and a sodturning event, which would pave the way for construction to start, had been held on Tuesday.
Local Organising Committee CEO Dr Danny Jordaan said that the sod-turning ceremony signalled a "huge vote of confidence" in the work that had been done in Cape Town. "We must give credit to mayor Helen Zille and the entire council of the city of Cape Town," said Jordaan.
"The 70 000-seater capacity of the stadium in the city will be a ignificant boost in terms of the additional number of tickets that will be available to South Africans for World Cup matches. The high number ofaccommodation available in the city, together with the good public transport network and the beauty of the city will certainly make Cape Town one of the strengths of South Africa's bid to deliver a world-classevent," he added.
Durban has selected a group, led by Group Five and WBHO, as preferred bidders to build its 70 000-seater stadium and the municipality has stated that a tender dispute would not delay construction. PG Mavundla Engineering and its partner, Muratori Cementiti Di Ravenna claimed that their tender was the lowest bid and that its consortium should have secured the contract. The dispute would reappear in the Durban High Court next month.In February, the Grinaker-LTA/Interbeton Ibhayi JV was appointed by the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality to build a new stadium in Port Elizabeth.
The contract for the R920-million Mbobela stadium, in Nelspruit, was awarded to a JV between Bouygues, a French construction company, and Basil Read, late last year.
