Cape Town mayor Helen Zille has made a final appeal to the Cape Town Environment Protection Association (Cepa) to drop its case against the council over the building of the 2010 World Cup stadium at Green Point.

Zille asked during a council meeting yesterday whether Cepa had considered what the costs would be to the city if the association succeeded in its action.

Cepa has instituted a legal process to be heard in the Cape High Court in August to review certain of the decisions to build the R2,85bn Green Point stadium, which is to stage nine World Cup games, including a semifinal the most for any single stadium during the soccer spectacular.

Zille said the council was finalising a plan to redevelop the Green Point Common next to the 68000-seat stadium.

She said national government would put up most of the funds for the development of 2010-related infrastructure, which is expected to "hook" R10bn of state funding.

She said private sector investment "will also be in the billions".

"For this reason, I once again urge Cepa to reconsider its court action to stop the stadium, and think carefully about what this will cost Cape Town if they succeed," said Zille.

She said "good progress" was being made, contrary to arguments that the stadium would be a "white elephant", and that 29 sets of tender documents for the contract of a post-2010 operator had been drawn.

She said interest in running and financing the stadium after 2010 was substantial, and more requests for documents could still be made, as the tender process remained open until July 10.

Zille said that the post-2010 operator would be required to run the stadium in a "sustainable and effective way and also produce an income stream for the management and upkeep of the redeveloped Common".

Zille said Cape Town's progress on 2010 had been acknowledged by Fifa president Sepp Blatter during his visit to Cape Town and the Green Point stadium site last week.

He had expressed his full confidence in Cape Town as a key host city during the 2010 tournament. He also confirmed the number of matches to be played at the stadium.

Zille said she had also started a process to declare a formal intergovernmental dispute with the province over the reluctance of provincial housing MEC Richard Dyantyi to grant the city the first-phase approval for becoming a national housing agent.

She said the city had applied in November last year for housing accreditation, in terms of the Housing Act, which would give it direct access to national subsidies for the provision of housing opportunities without going through the province.

The national department of housing has already made R1,2m available to the city to establish capacity as an accredited housing agent, but Dyantyi had still not granted authorisation for phase one of the accreditation required. Zille said the council had submitted a business plan to Dyantyi, which was re-submitted after he had asked for changes to be made.

"Months have passed, and nothing has happened, despite repeated requests," she said.

She said she was now going through the process of declaring a dispute in terms of the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act.

"I hope that we are able to resolve this matter before it proceeds to the courts," Zille said.

Business Day