Durban awaits nod to host CGF games

SOUTH Africa’s proposal to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games remains under review and the process will not be completed before the end of this month, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) said at the weekend.

“A review team appointed by the CGF is in the final stages of evaluating the submissions received from South Africa to determine whether Durban’s proposals for hosting the Games are consistent with their original bid commitments,” CGF spokesman Martin Reynolds told Sowetan.

“Given the variety and significance of the outstanding matters under consideration, first the review process will be completed and a recommendation made to the CGF executive board, before the end of February,” Reynolds said in an emailed response on Saturday.

Durban had initially missed a series of deadlines since they were awarded the Games in September 2015 but were saved following an extended deadline in November.

This was after the CGF warned SA it could lose the hosting rights after failing to sign the host city contract, including paying a hosting fee of about R26.4-million, as well as setting up a local organising committee.

SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) reportedly spent nearly R120-million on its bid for the 2022 Games. The total costs are an estimated R8.2-billion with a projected GDP benefit of about R11-billion.