World-class skating likely to return to city – dept
WORLD-CLASS skateboarding is set to return to the city before the end of the year with the Northern Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism (Dedat) optimistic that a new service provider will be announced in time to present a 2018 installment of the Kimberley Diamond Cup (KDC).
This is according to Dedat spokesperson, Zandisile Luphahla, who confirmed yesterday that while the appointment of a project and event management service provider for the KDC programme, to replace the World Skateboarding Grand Prix (WSGP), was an ongoing process, the international extreme sports showcase was likely to return to the city within a matter of months.
The tender was originally advertised in mid-January but following Friday’s deadline and the fact that no late applications are to be considered, all bids have been submitted for evaluation.
Luphahla said yesterday that, with the department optimistic that the KDC would return to Kimberley in 2018, the new service provider was likely be announced in the foreseeable future.
“The closing date was on Friday and the bid committee will now need to sit and evaluate the the various bids to determine the most suitable candidate,” he said yesterday. “We cannot disclose how many bids were received but after the committee have completed the evaluation process, we will make a public announcement.”
With no intention on scaling back on future instalments of the skating extravaganza, Luphahla said that the successful candidate would be given a similar mandate to that of the WSGP, in terms of planning the KDC event and meeting the related logistical requirements.
“We are not sure of the exact dates but we are expecting this very popular event to return to the city before the end of 2018,” he said.
Following the 2015 edition, CEO of the WSGP, Tim McFerran, blamed corruption and mismanagement for the cancellation of future events saying that the Northern Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism (Dedat) had failed to meet the deadline for proposals to have the event over the first weekend in December 2016.
In response, Dedat cited the fact that McFerran refused to allow the event to be downscaled with Luphahla saying that the current economy simply did not allow for a KDC on the same scale as previous years.