The Mandela Bay Development Agency has finally received the green light to proceed with the demolition of the Old Telkom Park Rugby Stadium in Port Elizabeth, formerly known as the Boet Erasmus stadium.
After many months of a protracted process, the demolition certificate was obtained, clearing the way for the City to leverage this prime piece of land in Humewood.
Planning and Development Manager, Dorelle Sapere, said the process to demolish a structure of this size was fairly complex and had drawn out due to the number of role player approvals involved, each with a set of criteria to be met.
"One such role player was the Provincial Department of Environmental Affairs, whose approval is necessary to safeguard sensitive environmental considerations, such as the protection of the flood line. A mandatory twenty-day period for possible public objections to the demolition was also required before the demolition process could be initiated" says Dorelle Sapere, Planning and Development Manager heading up the project," Sapere said.
MBDA CEO Ashraf Adam said rezoning is one of the key deliverables the Agency was going to concentrate on, as it prepares the site for future inclusive and multi-use developments.
"The demolition is just one step of the process to freeing up this prime real estate for catalytic and transformative developments. The MBDA believes that real socio-economic transformation can be achieved through innovative spatial planning that is not constrained by outdated planning patterns of the past. So rezoning is one of the key deliverables we're going to concentrate on as we prepare the site for future inclusive and multi-use developments," he said
With the conclusion of the approvals process, the demolition of the old stadium is scheduled to commence this week with construction site establishment.
The work is expected to take approximately three months to complete.
