Unveiling of Senzangakhona stadium - Premier Sbu Ndebele
STATEMENT FROM THE HONORABLE PREMIER
MR SBU NDEBELE ON THE OCCASION OF THE UNVEILING OF THE NEW STADIUM FOR DURBAN
15 JUNE 2006
When the best players from around the world and their countrymen and women head for South Africa in 2010, they will be welcomed to KwaZulu-Natal with our hearts, with our smiles, with our warmth and generosity of spirit. AND our red carpet welcome will extend all the way to this ... our state of the art, iconic new stadium which tells the world that we are ready to put on a great world cup match.
The new Senzangakhona Stadium will act as the hub in the Kings Park precinct for all the other facilities and initiatives within the province and provide focus for our young people with talent who aspire to great heights in sport, tourism, leisure, art and culture.
On the other hand, the new stadium will be an iconic, world class, multi-purpose soccer stadium on the site of the existing Kings Park Soccer Stadium. This will not only give our country a second world-class soccer stadium, but it will be designed in a way that after 2010 we will have the major stadium at King’s Park Precinct and other top class facilities at locations where our professional teams can play. It will be constructed in compliance with all the international safety and security standards and will have built-in flexibility to host a wide range of sporting and other events.
Apart from the R1.6-billion new stadium which will be built in place of the existing Kings Park stadium, a host of other projects are in the pipeline to get us 2010 ready.
As an example, the completion of the new King Shaka Airport at La Mercy, which will facilitate better transport for tourists, is also expected to give the city a fair slice of the R21-billion in tourism spin-offs that the country will reap from the 2010 World Cup.
We are determined that the benefits of hosting a World Cup event will be long-term and that the projects we embark on to get 2010 ready are sustainable and focused on our long-term strategic objectives for eThekwini and for KwaZulu-Natal.
With today’s unveiling of the new stadium, I believe we are launching our 2010 readiness programme and setting out on an exciting road towards the world’s most watched sporting event.
Thank you
For more information, please contact:
Office of the Premier
Rev Selby Khumalo
Tel: 033 341 3342
Cell: 083 633 9404
Email: khumalms@premier.kzntl.gov.za
eThekwini Municipality
Ms Vasantha Angamuthu
Tel: 031 311 2386
Cell: 083 308 2639
Email: angamuthuv@durban.gov.za