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Polokwane Softball Stadium gets R184m boost after years of delays
Polokwane Softball Stadium gets R184m boost after years of delays
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Polokwane's long-delayed international softball stadium project is back on track after receiving R184 million in new funding.
The funding comes from the Polokwane Municipality and national Department of Sport, boosting the budget after years of stagnation.
Since 2019/20, only R69m had been spent, with construction delayed by Covid-19 and the termination of the original contractor in 2022.
Rising material costs led to the dismissal of the first contractor; Brunel Engineering was appointed late in 2023.
A new completion date of March 2025 has been set, pushed back from the initially promised February 2024.
The original budget for the project was R51m in 2020 but has since escalated significantly.
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POLOKWANE – After years of delays and cost escalations, the long-awaited international softball stadium is finally back on track, thanks to an additional R184m allocation from both the Polokwane Municipality and the national Department of Sport.
The extra funding comes after the initial budget fell short, with only R69m spent on the project since its inception in the 2019/20 financial year.
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Construction has been plagued by setbacks, including the Covid-19 pandemic and the termination of the original contractor in 2022 due to rising material costs – a move Mayor John Mpe said was necessary to curb excessive expenditure.
Brunel Engineering, the new contractor appointed late last year, has since taken over the site and repaired parts of the structure damaged during the extended halt in progress.
Sport and recreation manager Mantlako Sebaka confirmed this week that while work on the external areas and practice fields is ongoing, the revised estimated completion date has now been set for March 2025, a year later than initially promised.
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This marks a shift from Sebaka's previous projection of February 2024.
The project has come a long way from its original R51m budget when the first contractor was appointed in 2020.
The DA had previously supported the call for more funding after only 43% of the work was completed despite 84% of the second-phase budget being depleted.
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