Festival would be a joint initiative between the city and province.
|||Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium could be home to the Top Gear festival for the next three years.
This all depends on the eThekwini Municipality approving the more than R31 million needed to establish the relevant infrastructure to host the event from June next year.
The festival is a combination of events focusing around motorsports, featuring well- known TV personalities Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.
It was held in Gauteng at The Dome in 2010 and at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit in March this year.
A report tabled at the executive committee meeting yesterday by city manager, Michael Sutcliffe, said the festival would be a joint initiative between the city and province.
As the host city, Durban would ensure that infrastructure was in place and the province would provide the event fee and operational cost.
Top Gear’s nominated licensor would manage the event.
If approved, the agreement would be for three years.
The report states that R10m would be required for the first year, while R8m would be needed for the operating costs.
A further R7m would be needed for operating costs in 2013 and R8m for 2014.
An estimated R4.5m would be required in the first year for minor roadworks as well as establishing circuit protection and safety measures to allow the track to be approved by Motorsport South Africa.
In the subsequent two years, R2.5m would be expected each year to establish and de-establish the race track.
Next year’s event is expected to be staged between June 15-17.
According to the document, the stadium would need to be modified to accommodate the skid-pan and stunt circuit.
Other costs include R1.5m to provide staircases to make the existing pedestrian bridge functional and R1.3m a year for metro police and other line department support.