Grand Parade Fancied as 2010 Fan Park

The main Cape Town fan park for the 2010 Soccer World Cup is likely to be at the Grand Parade

The main Cape Town fan park for the 2010 World Cup is likely to be at the Grand Parade, with a fan park at the Bellville Velodrome and at the Athlone stadium in Cape Town as well.

And still more 2010 Fan Parks of varying size and shape - from vast shopping centres to tiny bars - are likely to mushroom across the rest of the city and the province.

The city's transport, roads and stormwater portfolio committee met on Thursday to discuss issues around FIFA 2010.

On Friday the city's 2010 spokesperson, Pieter Cronje, explained that the site for the main fan park would be chosen jointly by the city and Fifa.

The Grand Parade was likely to be recommended as Fan Park for 2010 because "people will naturally gravitate towards the CBD" during World Cup matches in Cape Town.

"It is also close to the Cape Town train station, it has links to the Waterfront and it's within striking distance of the stadium (by foot)."

The city council planned to encourage and facilitate huge pedestrian movement between the CBD and Greenpoint.

Among questions put to the department's executive director Eddie Chinnappen on Thursday was why most 2010 fan parks were to be in central business districts away from the poor and the biggest fan base on the Cape Flats.

In response, Cronje said a major 2010 fan park would be in Athlone, and nothing would stop the planning of other fan parks elsewhere in the city as the city and province's combined business plan around FIFA 2010 still had to be refined.

"The door is not closed (to the prospect of a 2010 fan park in Khayelitsha, for example).

"And there will be smaller fan parks in communities, shopping malls, bars and other catering establishments," he said.

Outside Cape Town, there would also be fan parks in the province's other major towns during the 2010 World Cup.

In the city, Chinnappen said local taxi operators could be used as shuttles during the 2010 Fifa World Cup to transport thousands of spectators from the city's park-and-ride facilities to Green Point stadium and fan parks.

The council was considering awarding tenders to the taxi industry as it had now been formalised through the recapitalisation programme. It was in discussions with the provincial and national governments about ordering more buses to ferry spectators from around the city to the stadiums.

Source: IOL

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IMPORTANT WORLD CUP 2010 DATES:
FIFA Confederations Cup South Africa 2009
Final Draw 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa
FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup South Africa