Košice mayor Richard Raši along with city representatives have expressed satisfaction with the Steel Arena preparations as well as training hall construction progress ahead of the upcoming 2011 IIHF World Championship. He considers the greatest priority to be the completion of the parking facilities.

“The Alfa and Omega are the deadlines, all factors indicate that things are on schedule – something I perceive as a plus. The priority is the completion of the car park which we would like to see finished well in advance -  otherwise holding the World Championship would not make sense. The Steel Arena is excellently prepared, the training hall is being finished, so from the point of view of the whole complex there won’t be any problems.” stated Raši.
      

Construction of the four-story car park commenced on the 11^th of August  and measures 120 x 33 meters, equating to approximately 4000 square meters in total. To date some 1.5 million Euros have been invested in the car park – which should provide 496 parking spaces.

“The infrastructure was due to be finished on the 1^st of January.  The pre-Christmas delay was minimal, but unfortunately we were not able to continue the concreting due to weather conditions, however work will restart on Monday. We believe that the delays will be marginal and we will be able to resolve logistics,” stated Peter Herman – the Košice property administration director. He went on to say that “ In the event of the building not receiving development approval, the car park will not be available. There was never the condition of the construction being ready in time for the World Championship."
      

The training hall foundation stone was laid on the 27^th of April and construction started on the 12^th of November. The rink is of oceanic proportions and after the World Championship will be used especially for youth matches with its 300 seater capacity. The hall is part of the south wing of the Steel Arena, featuring two timers and approximately fifty parking spaces beneath it.

“We are making efforts to finish the changing rooms, paint, prepare seating and rails and to fine-tune the sound system. Maybe this seems like a lot, but everything is going according to plan and the approval should be granted in February or March. The hall looks great and we are very proud of it." Said Steel Arena general manager Igor Havrila.
      

In the Steel Arena the rink perimeter was followed by the glass barriers and the delivery of changing room boxes. “We have secured higher current electricity so as to avoid blowing fuses. We are definitely planning on doing something with the sound system, but we need one-hundred percent assurance that whatever we go for is appropriate especially for the upper sectors where we are not too happy with the sound and would also like to increase the light intensity.” added Havrila.