Poland: Second largest stadium still on hold

source: Gazeta.pl / StadiumDB.com; author: michał

Poland: Second largest stadium still on hold Since last year’s accident during roof construction lifting, Stadion Śląski is constantly on hold. The investor didn’t meet another deadline and asked for time until end of 2012 to give full report on the accident – Gazeta.pl reports.

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Stadion Śląski (Silesian Stadium) in Chorzów will accommodate 55,200 spectators when ready, but at this point no-one knows when will that be. Construction started in 2009 was brought to a stop in July last year, when two elements of the cable roof broke into pieces, preventing the steel structure to be lifted over stands.

 Since then works are ongoing inside the venue and around it, but nothing can be done with the giant steel net of future roof lying on the ground and awaiting to be lifted. According to plans the ground was to be ready last December, but investor and contractors agreed to sign an annex prolonging the process by two months. In February second annex gave them two more months and then third one with deadline set at June 30th. All of these are, however, only technical annexes that are supposed to give more time to establish ways of repairing the roof. New timeframe for the construction is due around August, but with no specific date announced yet.

Investor, the Silesian Marshal’s Office, was supposed to present detailed report on the accident to Chorzów’s construction supervisor in May, but failed to meet the deadline. Instead, Marshal’s Office asked for time until the end of 2012, which has already been agreed on. As officials claim, that’s more than enough time and the report may be ready earlier.

Redevelopment of the 51-year old venue is subject to controversies and criticism as there is no club that could fill it in next several years with only major games of Silesian teams able to attract crowds above 50% of capacity. Initially, in 2007, cost was estimated at 102m zloty (€27m), but after redesigning works and continuing delays has already risen to 510m zloty (€117m).

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