Football story by Brian Watters, Tue, 31 Jan 2006 21:48:00 GMT


LONDON - Multiplex Group Ltd., the Australian construction company in charge of the renovations at the Wembley Stadium said that it was still hoping to get it ready on time for the FA Cup final on May 13. The group said that the project has a 70 percent chance of completion.

"Various areas of the project that were previously targeted for handover by the end of January have not been completed," Multiplex said in a statement. "In these circumstances and as previously foreshadowed, there remains a material risk that the stadium will not be available for the FA Cup Final."

Multiplex will issue a further update of the project with its first-half results in mid-February. Following this announcement, Michael Cunnah the chief executive of the Wembley stadium said that they would be closely tracking the progress of the project, "Multiplex have stated that they are 70% confident of delivering the stadium according to the revised schedule but they have acknowledged that risks continue to exist," he said in a statement.

"We will continue to monitor progress on a daily basis and take their expert advice on how the stadium is progressing. Multiplex today said that in three weeks they would be able to advise whether the stadium will make March 31 completion." Most of the problems that Multiplex is facing have to do with design changes and performances of the subcontractors.

Martin Tidd, Multiplex UK's managing director said that they had 3,500 men working on the job and that all the problems were not emanating from their side, “There's still a risk. We are managing it but there may be other contractors out there that might not see it through," he observed. The bookmakers Ladbrokes now believe that the final is headed to Cardiff and the Millennium Stadium.

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