It is back to square one for the City of Cape Town Municipality to find a company that will operate the new Green Point Stadium after the 2010 World Cup.

Three bids were rejected by the city's bid adjudication committee on Monday after its meeting in Cape Town. The tender is for the operation of the 68000-seater stadium and a multipurpose 90 hectare theme park on the site.

Green Point Stadium, which has been marred by all sorts of controversies, is one of the 10 facilities that will be used for the 2010 World Cup.

Pieter Cronje, the city's 2010 World Cup spokesman, said the three tenders did not comply with some of the elements of the bid document.

"The city will re-advertise the request for proposals in due course, either in its original form or reformulated. It will be open to both original bidders and new bidders. The city is confident that it will receive acceptable proposals when re-advertised," he said.

"The second round will not delay the stadium project in any way. The process will continue notwithstanding the challenge by the Cape Environment Protection Association to the approval processes and resultant decisions for the construction of the stadium at Green Point."

Mike Marsden, the city's executive director for service delivery integration, said: "This is a major contract for a R3 billion asset and we must be absolutely certain that we find the right operator with the best long-term management plan, track record and success recipe.

"We have been encouraged by some of the bids. The prime location of the stadium - [within] walking distance to key support, business, transport and tourism services, the central business district and the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront - has a clear attraction for the world-be operators and investors."

Irvin Khoza, the 2010 Local Organising Committee chairman, announced last week that they have appointed an intervention team to ensure that the construction of stadiums for the 2009 Confederations Cup and World Cup met all the deadlines.