The Press WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1971. The cost of the Games

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32521, 3 February 1971, Page 12

The Press WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1971. The cost of the Games

The people of Christchurch appear to have been sadly, if inadvertently, misled by earlier estimates of the cost of providing facilities for swimming events at the Commonwealth Games early in 1974. As recently as last August, immediately after Christchurch was awarded the Games, the leader of the Christchurch Commonwealth Games promotion group (Mr R. S. Scott) said the capital cost of providing new facilities for the Games would be $BOO,OOO. An earlier City Council estimate of the cost of converting the Centennial Pool to the required standard was $850,000, but this increased to $1.5 million in revised estimates prepared late last year. Estimates of the cost of a completely new pool have also increased sharply from a Commonwealth Games Promotion Organisation estimate of $BOO,OOO two years ago to an estimate by the Mayor yesterday of $2 million. The conversion of the Centennial Pool is not an attractive proposition if a new pool can be built for relatively little more. Before any decision, however, reliable estimates are needed of the cost of a new pool on various sites which have been suggested. The City Council will, almost certainly, have to meet most of the cost, but methods of financing, and the contributions which other local bodies might be prepared to make, can be worked out only when the site of the pool is fixed.

The pool is an amenity which would benefit the whole city; on most considerations, it should be sited to the east of Cathedral Square on land already owned by the City Council—Queen Elizabeth II Park and the city rubbish dump in Rowan Avenue-Pages Road have been suggested. This is an area of expanding population, poorly served by pools at present; even if a covered pool is not necessarily the best for suburban use it might be built in such a way that its north wall may be opened in summer and, perhaps, smaller outdoor pools- built alongside it once the Games are over. Otherwise, there must be little prospect of yet another pool being provided for the eastern suburbs in the next few years.

Clearly, the capital cost of the Games to Christchurch will prove to be much higher than was predicted amid the enthusiasm to secure Christchurch as the venue. A decision about the pool, as the biggest item and the one which will take longest to build, is urgent Without denying the importance of the Games to Christchurch, it is not too soon to revise, as carefully as possible, estimates of the cost of all aspects of the Games. Ratepayers in the city and the surrounding areas are entitled to know with some certainty what the real cost of the Games—to them—will be.