Some of the world’s top media could find themselves homeless when they arrive in South Africa for the 2010 World Cup.
The City of Johannesburg is fighting off an urgent court bid to stop it from proceeding with a R72-million housing development next to Soccer City, the venue for the opening ceremony and the final.
The city and Fifa’s local organising committee have been hauled before court by the Expo Centre at Nasrec, south of Johannesburg, over the “hostel-type” dwellings to accommodate the media for the duration of the World Cup.
The centre objected to the apartments after it saw the “inferior” plans in April this year.
Concerned about a drop in property values in the surrounding Nasrec area because of the apartments, the Expo Centre wants the court to order the city to stop building and start over again, adhering to better standards.
Among the centre’s complaints are the size of the two-bedroom apartments — at 45m² they are half the expected size — and that they are mostly made of prefabricated material, with no insulation to protect against Johannesburg’s harsh winter, during which the World Cup will take place.
On Friday, the city gave the court an undertaking to stop building until the case, which goes back to court in September, is resolved.
But in court papers it warned that it would cost taxpayers and, with only 291 days until kickoff, the housing would not be finished in time for the media’s arrival next year.
In the papers, the head of the city’s 2010 unit, Sibongile Mazibuko, said the building process was too far advanced to start over.
The city argued that there was no time to change the plans because “time was of the essence” and any delay would have a “profound effect on the broadcast of the World Cup soccer event to the entire world”.
“Should any relief be granted in favour of the (Expo Centre), the consequences for the World Cup in 2010 would be dire,” the city warned in court papers.
The dispute comes down to each side’s understanding of what the housing, which is being built on land donated by the Expo Centre to the city , would — and should — look like.
While the centre envisioned “high-quality, luxurious” accommodation, the city was building “affordable” housing instead. Expo Centre CEO Craig Newman told the Sunday Times the housing development was intended to fit in with its surrounds.
“ The bottom line was for the units to be built in a satisfactory manner that’s in keeping with the precinct ,” Newman said.
In court papers, the centre argued that it would suffer “everlasting prejudice” if the apartments went ahead as is, because they would “diminish the value” of the entire precinct.
“It will forever have an affordable development in the middle of its up-market, state-of-the-art development,” he said.
Since it was announced that the Expo Centre would be the venue for the International Broadcasting Centre and Soccer City Stadium, millions of rands have been spent on an extensive face-lift of the Nasrec area.
The ongoing upgrade will eventually include a tree-lined pedestrian promenade linking the Expo Centre to the stadium, increased parking capacity, and shopping, entertainment and commercial areas.
The City of Johannesburg, which beat Cape Town and Durban to get Fifa’s tender to host the broadcast centre, maintained that the association’s requirements were to provide “no more than ‘rooms’ ” and that the organising committee was “perfectly satisfied” with the standard of building. The city, which plans to keep the apartments, valued between R400000 and R500000, as part of its social housing stock after the World Cup, said although it was only obliged to provide affordable housing, this did not mean the housing was of poor quality.
“The fact that affordable housing is being built does not lead to the (centre’s) conclusion that the Nasrec Precinct will not be an up-market development.”
Local organising committee spokesman Rich Mkhondo said the committee could not comment on the matter until the court case was resolved.
(Source: Thetimes.co.za)
