A decision on the "fate of the earthquake-prone Museum Stand is unlikely" before New Zealand hosts the West Indies in the first Test at the Basin Reserve on Dec. 1, according to Mark Geenty of STUFF. While a "shiny new digital scoreboard and gleaming revamped RA Vance Stand will be ready" for the Test against the West Indies, the "biggest hindrance" to the Basin's progress will not be resolved "for several more months at least." Wellington Mayor Justin Lester went public in April, saying that his preference was to "bulldoze the 92-year-old stand" which has not seated a spectator since '12 when it was "declared earthquake prone." Without its 1,000 seats, combined with new health and safety regulations, the ground's last sellout "squeezed in just 6,142 fans for the Pakistan ODI" in Jan. '16. That "cost it a test against England in March," and has it "blacklisted" by NZ Cricket for major opponents like India and Australia until capacity increases. In April, Lester was backed by Basin Reserve Trust board member and councilor Simon Woolf, who described the stand as "not fit for purpose." A decision on its fate was expected by late August but City Growth Projects Manager Danny McComb said that the decision will now be made in December. Detailed design work and costing of the options -- either demolish the stand and "make good" the area or strengthen it and "give it a new purpose" -- would "stretch well into October." Demolishing the stand is assessed at NZ$800,000 ($573,780) but McComb said that the cost would be "significantly higher" to make it a seated area with terracing. He added, "It's not just planting a grass seed on a hill." There is "strong opposition" from the Save the Basin group, which favors "strengthening and restoring the stand." Initial estimates put the cost of strengthening and restoring at NZ$8M ($5.74M) but McComb said that there were "a range of options being explored" (STUFF, 8/31).
