2010 fan park on the cards for Paarl
2010-04-08
SOCCER fever has hit South Africa and with only two months to go, the Paarl 2010 organising committee is hurriedly trying to establish a public viewing area with big screen availability that meets international standards. This is because 800 Dutch soccer fans plan to camp at Berg River Resort during the tournament. A Dutch delegation from the organisation De Oranjecamping recently visited Mayor Charmaine Manuel and requested a viewing area in Paarl. De Oranjecamping is a professional camping concept for supporters of the Dutch national football team. Whenever the Dutch squad qualifies for either a FIFA World Cup or a UEFA European Cup, De Oranjecamping and its visitors follow. This new viewing area project is a combined concept between the Paarl 2010 committee and the Dutch delegation who met with mayor Charmaine Manuel, says Arthob Petersen, chairperson of the 2010 committee. Drakenstein has budgeted R1,2 million for a fan park planned at Boland Cricket Grounds, where public viewing will be free, but a large screen alone costs R1 million. Because insufficient funding has been budgeted, a special mayoral committee meeting was held last week to obtain approval for additional funding. Currently the R1,2 million budgeted is far less than what is needed to set up the viewing area. “After receiving nine proposals from event companies the average amount tendered for the viewing area is over R4 million for the duration of the tournament,” Petersen said. Although Boland Park is considered the obvious choice as viewing area, a final decision has not been made. Further meetings will be held in the next two weeks. “The bid evaluation committee will make the final decision. One of the requirements is that the area must have a big tent to accommodate fans in the case of bad weather.” In the adjusted 2010 viewing area budget no mention is made of a big tent or seating for the fans. Some of the biggest expenses on the list are the screen (R750 000), 2010 flags (R350 000), event management and safety and security (R300 000). The expenses (without a tent or seating) add up to R4 million.
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