The Cup, a well-prepared investment

By
Anne Jones
Posted in: The impact…, … on Port-Elizabeth

Nadia Gerwel is the Assistant Director of the Capital Budget on Financial Accounting in the Port Elizabeth Metropolitan Municipality. She gives us an insight of the operational and financial sides of the Cup for a hosting city.

How has the World Cup affected your job?
For starters, sleep is not something we can afford here. My work started long before the World Cup. It is concerned with the capital construction and financial constructs. Supervising meeting with regards to budgets for the World Cup, and other operation systems. Safety and security was also included in the whole project.

What is the impact of your work in the municipality?
The impact of the operational system, in monetary terms is R350 million. This money was paid out for the construction. The stadium, has cost the municipality R2, 065 million, and all other costs incurred, came up to a grand total of R 3, 819 billion. The difference in the amount is the money that has been spent for all the other commodities and facilities that are needed to get the city ready for the World Cup. There was an operation cost of R 105 million that covered transports costs, such as taxis, shuttles, taxi drivers, and shuttles drivers. Transports needed to be arranged for the physically disabled people in our city as well.

Do the FIFA’s regulations affect you?
Well, FIFA’s regulations are there to just tell you how and where you are allowed to spend your money. The money that the municipality spent was for infrastructures, roads, the stadium, the training rounds, etc. The regulations are all about rules and cost. For example, the training grounds, FIFA said that the training grounds need to be within a 20 minutes radius of the player’s accommodation. We chose to revamp the Gelvendale Stadium; firstly, it is not in a traditional white venue. It would bring about exposure for all areas of Port Elizabeth. The other training ground that we have opted to use, is the UPE pitch, although a lot of work was needed to get the pitch ready for FIFA’s inspections. All the training grounds needed to be corrected, and that all incurred a cost.

What was the reason for building the stadium in that area?
The area had the bulk infrastructure that was needed for the project, all that needed to be changed, was to connect everything, once the construction was completed. It cost, R22 million to upgrade the infrastructure, everything was done in bulk. All the construction that had been done was done for a purpose, and that is to uplift the environment.

How does Port Elizabeth manage to keep up with the demand for electricity?
We have incorporated a 3 way safety program. Firstly, the stadium runs for the normal grid, just like all the other households in Port Elizabeth, it gets the electricity from Eskom. There are back up plans to ensure that the stadium is never without any power. The second strategy that we have implied is an uninterrupted power-supply, much like the power supplies that the hospitals run off. The third is a system, much like a jet engine. It provide electricity if the other two solutions failed. The facility cost R 33 million. The stadium is protected, by these three procedures.

What long-term effects do you foresee for Port Elizabeth?
There are both positive and negative effects. The positive effects are, the World Cup is the biggest event that there is, and it will allow for great exposure to Port Elizabeth, as well as South Africa. The World Cup is a billion dollar industry. The negative effects are that Port Elizabeth is a depressed state, for sport. We do not have a super 14 rugby team, and we do not have a PSL soccer team. The cost to run the stadium is R 20 million, annually. We need big events that will cover this cost. We need to develop sporting team so that the stadium will remain sustainable. Currently, we are actively perusing methods to develop players for the sporting events that will keep the stadium in working order. If we don’t get the sporting events, that will be one of the worst thing to happen to Port Elizabeth. That would mean that our beautiful stadium will not be used.

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