R5.8m renovations on the cards for Buffalo Park ahead of 2027 Cricket World Cup

The Eastern Cape government has committed a R5.8m investment towards renovations at KuGompo City’s Buffalo Park Cricket Stadium ahead of the 2027 Cricket World Cup. This would be in addition to a R20m cash injection recently announced by Buffalo City metro towards this stadium upgrades ahead of the 2027 global showpiece. This is in anticipation of Cricket SA’s R43m top-up commitment towards the upgrades at the same stadium that are yet to be allocated.

KuGompo City will be one of the host cities when the world cricket showpiece hits our shores next year. The R5.8m allocation coincides with the an additional R2.5m allocation over the next two years to host the Sanzaar Under-20 Rugby Championship at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. This was revealed byfinance MEC Mlungisi Mvoko during his budget speechat the Raymond Mhlaba Chamber of the provincial legislature in Bhisho on Friday.

We plan to declare new additional nature reserves in the Wild Coast by increasing Umkhambathi Nature Reserve and declaring a new nature reserve in Umsikaba. This will improve ecotourism potential of the Eastern Cape The commitment comes aspremier Oscar Mabuyanecalled on the province’s two metropolitan municipalities to invest more in tourism-related infrastructure upgrades before hosting next year’s ICC Cricket World Cup. This as the province is positioning itself as the home of sports and creative tourism.

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In December the Buffalo City council approved the allocation of R20m to upgrade the Buffalo Park Cricket Stadium for next year’s World Cup showpiece. The province estimates that more than 40,000 people would visit for the event, injecting R800m into the provincial economy. The R20m investment will add to the total estimated cost of just less than R67m to upgrade the facility.

During his speech Mvoko said the tourism sector continues to recover strongly, supported by domestic travel and diversification into sports and film-induced tourism. To strengthen this sector, Mvoko announced a R26.5m allocation in 2026/27 for infrastructure upgrades in provincial nature reserves, among other initiatives.

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