By Cathy Dippnall

The first phase of the Thembalethu sport ground project, funded by the George municipality, has been handed over to Entsha Henra CC, the company that won the contract to upgrade the facilities, particularly the soccer fields.

SSI Consulting Engineers developed an all-inclusive Thembalethu sports facility plan for the municipality, which will fund the initial costs of R2,5-million over a two-year period. The municipality is seeking external partners to help finance the total project, which will ultimately run into several millions of rands.

“The council is confident a significant sports facility in Thembalethu could become a reality within the next five years if we can get funders to form a partnership with us.

“We are also confident that the 60000 residents of Thembalethu, as well as residents in the greater George area, will benefit greatly in the future by the development of this sports project in its entirety,” the executive portfolio councillor for sport development, Freedom Front Plus councillor Petrus Grobler, said earlier this week.

The Thembalethu upgrade will eventually accommodate rugby, cricket, netball, tennis, boxing, volleyball and basketball in addition to soccer.

Meanwhile, the municipality‘s plan to build the largest sports complex in the Southern Cape in Pacaltsdorp, including a 35000-seater soccer stadium for 2010, has been put on hold.

“When the council started the process we thought we could bid for a soccer team for 2010. But we realised we would not be able to build the stadium in time,” George mayor Flip de Swardt said.

He said Grobler and two sports officials, Les Smuts and Kidron Kaboni, were in Europe for the European Soccer Championships and had appointments with teams and managers, hoping to influence them in bringing a team to George. “If they are successful, we will use the Outeniqua Park Stadium which we are upgrading at a cost of R3,5-million.”

Grobler and his officials also made a presentation on the Thembalethu project in The Netherlands at the weekend.

De Swardt said Grobler hoped to raise R12-million for the project.

Source: The Herald