Stadiums erected for the 2010 Fifa World Cup will not become white elephants, said sport and recreation director general Vernie Petersen.

“We have reflected at some of the challenges and not only the issue of so-called notion of white elephants, but importantly we will have to make sure that our people continue to access and use these facilities,” he said at a briefing in Johannesburg on Thursday.

The department of sport and recreation would have to improve its efficiency on encouraging mass participation in events if it was to ensure stadiums were used by communities.

National and international sporting events would also have to be awarded to provinces which may not have had many “important” matches in the past.

He said the department, public works and the national treasury were consulting with the provinces and stadium owners.

The department would host a meeting on December 15 on sustainability plans and under-utilisation of the stadiums.

“When the decision was taken to build the stadiums where they have been built, that process was preceded with a very intensive study into the issues of sustainability and maintenance around the stadiums,” said Petersen.

It was “critical” to ensure those sustainability and maintenance plans remained vibrant and that they addressed the challenges many stadium owners and municipalities were experiencing.