Bad weather stops play...

It seems that bad weather has halted the erection of the roof. Surprisingly it also seems that parts that were previously assembled on the templates have been removed. There's not much new progress to report on, all in all. It looks like the contractors are going to do things the other way round to what was planned. Previously, it was planned that roof construction would begin in mid to late August but, thanks to a delay in the shipment of roof truss pieces from Kuwait and inclement weather, especially wind, the roof erection has been delayed. So the focus at the moment, with the skeleton structure itself just about finished, is on cosmetic finishing touches i.e. installing the seats, windows, tiles in bathrooms, preparing the executive suites and preparing the pitch. These are hoped to be completed probably by around the end of this year, leaving only the roof to be completed. Let's hope that despite these delays, the stadium can still be declared finished by the end of March, 2009.

The closing gap. The complete first and second tier bowl now formed.

The templates where sections that last time were on them are now on the ground again.

Lake side of the stadium. The white sand on the ground is a track for the massive Kobelco crane (used to lift the roof) to run on.

A closer view of the lake side of the stadium. The window frames are being installed.

The stadium across the lake. Note the massive Kobelco crane on the left.