Stadium plan progessing at full speed: mayor
Posted Jan 9, 2012 06:49:29 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The countdown has begun to the deadline for Halifax Regional Municipality to come up with a stadium proposal, and Mayor Peter Kelly says not a minute of it will be wasted.
The city has until March 31 to confirm its intention as a host city for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup soccer tournament – and that can’t happen without a commitment to build a sports stadium.
Mayor Peter Kelly tells News 95.7 city officials are holding meetings and distributing documents to anyone and everyone who represents a potential funding partner.
“It’s not a matter of ‘if’ anymore. It’s a matter of ‘when,'” Kelly told Maritime Morning, Saturday. “This is an opportunity, with the World Women’s FIFA, to bring this to fruition.”
Kelly said city staffers have sent copies of the proposal – as it exists so far – to Nova Scotia MLAs from the HRM area, as well as federal MPs from Halifax.
He says several other important meetings have also taken place.
“We’ve met with the sport minister, we met with Minister MacKay, we met with the Premier and many different key individuals and we will continue to work with all the other levels of government to see if there is an opportunity for them to bring in some financial support,” he told the talk show.
The Phase 2 report submitted to council in December recommended a 14,000-seat stadium with room for 6000 temporary seats, with an estimated cost between $54 and $71 million. The city would contribute $20 million.
