GamesBids.com: Durban 2020 Olympic Bid Could Be "Costly"

Durban 2020 Olympic Bid Could Be "Costly"
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GB Staff on Wednesday, July 21, 2010  10:40am EDT
 
Michael Sutcliffe, eThekwini municipal manager of Durban city council's
executive committee, said Tuesday the bidding phase for the 2020 Summer Olympic
Games could cost Durban anything between R306-million and R1.5-billion.
Independent online reports Sutcliffe said, "it's an honour that the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting will be held in Durban in July
next year...With the Olympics, you have to go in with your eyes wide open. Just
the bidding phase can vary from something like $40m to $200m. So we are not
talking about just a cheap process, and a process like that can start between
2012 and 2014".
He added that bidding would be a costly venture as Durban would have to market
the city and put forward development plans on stadiums and infrastructure,
including public transport and hospitality sector developments.
Sutcliffe said bidding for the Olympics also required national government
involvement. "One needs to deal with these things one step at a time. We are
still waiting for the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee
(Sascoc) to write to us and indicate what process we will need to go through".
Independent online reports Durban would have to convince IOC technical teams
that the city had the infrastructure for the Olympics and would have to persuade
30 sports codes to buy into the bid.
Sutcliffe said various developments would get under way during the process. "The
bidding process will begin next year, after July", he said.
According to the Mercury, Sascoc has written to potential host cities, including
Durban, saying they should contact the confederation and state their intention
of being involved in the 2020 Olympics bidding process.
Durban Mayor Obed Mlaba said, "no bid document has been issued and you can't bid
when there's no bid document".
DA caucus leader Tex Collins said holding the Olympics required much more
funding and planning than the World Cup, which dealt with only one code.
He said, "in the Olympics there's about 100 different disciplines. You need
indoor stadiums, equestrian stadiums, an Olympic village...the Olympics take
place in one city and the cost of staging the event will be a lot more compared
to the World Cup, but it's not to say we shouldn't bid".
He added that the DA first wanted to see what the World Cup had cost Durban
before it would support an Olympic bid.