Media Release
19 December 2006

Push on with the low cost upgrade of Eden Park

Manukau Mayor Sir Barry Curtis says it is becoming clearer by the day that the best alternative for the upgrade of Eden Park is to use temporary seating to raise the capacity of the park to 60,000.

“The Government is quite rightly examining this option thoroughly. I am certain it would present engineering challenges but such challenges are dealt with and overcome by engineers and architects every day. I note that an international consultancy which has worked on similar projects overseas is providing advice to the Government.

“Providing temporary seating facilities in stadiums is now a standard procedure overseas in order to deal with one-off events that do not justify spending large sums of money. That is the situation we are now facing with Eden Park. There is no justification for spending around $400 million for two 90 minute games of rugby, even if one of them is the final of the World Cup.

“The consent hearings to date have made it clear that the process of building a large, expensive and invasive addition to Eden Park is going to create huge problems which may be insurmountable, including the objections of local residents whose homes, families and environment would be seriously affected.

“Temporary seating is clearly the most sensible option.”

Sir Barry says turning Eden Park as a permanent regional sports stadium would also prevent the building of a national stadium on the Auckland waterfront, which he believes should be achieved in the near future.

ENDS