The NMB Stadium is located at 70 Prince Alfred Road in North End, Gqeberha. It is easily accessible from anywhere in Gqeberha.
The Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium is a soccer and rugby union stadium in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It hosted 2010 FIFA World Cup matches, including the third-place play off. It is the home of Chippa United Football Club and formerly of rugby union team Southern Kings.
The five-tier, R2 billion (approximately $159 million) Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium was built overlooking the North End Lake, at the heart of the city, one of three coastal stadiums built to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It regularly hosts large-scale rugby union and soccer matches. The stadium has also been used as a concert venue.
The stadium seats 46,000 in addition to 4,000 extra seats temporarily installed for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The seats are of different shades, from light orange to dark red. They are arranged seemingly at random, but this was done to help the stadium appear full at all times. It also means that sun damage is less of a problem and replaced seats are less noticeable. The stadium boasts 49 hospitality suites, two business lounges, a gymnasium, and lecture and function rooms. There are also two conference rooms situated on the first level, which are able to accommodate 200 people.
There are four ramps for easy wheelchair access, three VIP/VVIP lifts, two in the West Stand and one in the East Stand, as well as four service lifts, two on the west and two on the east of the stadium. Four additional lifts are planned for the legacy phase. There are 32 turnstiles and colour-coded gates on level 2 for spectators to access their seats and four ramps leading up from level 2 to level 5.
Two big viewing screens (12.7m x 7.2m) were installed for live coverage of the activities on the field. There are a total of 74 toilet blocks – 36 blocks on level 2 – 4 blocks on level 3 – 14 blocks on level 4 and 20 blocks on level 5.
Parking inside the stadium is provided across five parking zones, providing a total of 500 parking spaces utilised by working staff, anchor tenants, event organisers and hospitality guests.
As with other World Cup stadia in South Africa, construction costs for the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium spiralled substantially. It increased from the June 2006 estimated cost of R 711 million, to R 1.5 billion in May 2008, and finally the completed cost of R 2.065 billion. The stadium eventually cost R 2.1 billion to build, of which the city has already paid R 336 million, and may still be laible to pay a shortfall of R 261 million. However, if the shortfalls are calculated based on the 10-20-70 split, then the national government may still owes the city R 70.5 million and provincial government R 191 million.[9] National treasury has so far contributed R 1.375 billion, or 66.5% of the stadium’s cost. Despite this, national treasury has stated that they will not forward more funds to World Cup stadiums.
Mangaung African Cultural Festival (MACUFE) (Annual): Est. 1997 – A 10-day cultural tourism event in Bloemfontein featuring top African and international talent across various artistic disciplines.
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