Alex Stadium unavailable for games
ALEXANDRA – The stadium remains a construction site and unplayable as the facility misses the deadline for phase one completion of work.
Alexandra Stadium will not be available for the start of amateur football on 6 March since the first phase of upgrades that were due for completion in August last year are yet to be completed.
This was revealed by the deputy secretary-general of the Alexandra Northrand Local Football Association (LFA) Banele Sangcozi during an inspection of the facility on 23 February to assess its state of readiness for the commencement of the 2021 season.
Sangcozi said the City of Johannesburg’s R3 million-plus that was budgeted for the upgrades to the stadium was a three-year project with a phased approach to its completion in 2022 but the first phase had already gone beyond its deadline.
Part of the work that should have been completed by now included the height of the fence behind the two-goal posts being increased to prevent soccer balls from going over and landing in adjacent houses.
Teams constantly lost balls that were kicked over the fence and residents sometimes refused to return them. In addition, the turnstiles and seats on the grandstands needed repairing and grass needs relaying among other things.
“Once the above work of the first phase has been completed, the stadium will be handed over back to the LFA but this cannot be done with so much physical work that still needs to be done on the pitch itself. It renders the ground unplayable,” Sangcozi said.
The second phase of upgrades involves the construction of parking bays on the western end of the stadium while the last and third phase involves the electrification of the stadium, the erection of floodlights and the installation of a back-up generator in case of a power failures.
