World Youth Day 2008 is a six-day celebration that will be held in Sydney from 14-20th July 2008, with the event expected to attract more than half-a-million participants, including 100,000 international visitors.  The event will culminate with a final mass by Pope Benedict XVI at Randwick Racecourse on July 29, 2008.

Special legislation has been introduced into NSW Parliament to establish a World Youth Day Co-Ordination Authority, and Roy Wakelin-King, senior transport official, will lead the organizing authority.

Mr Wakelin-King, currently employed as the Director of Transport Operations at the NSW ministry of Transport, has previously worked as a commissioned officer in the Australian Army, and in senior positions in public transport, including work for the Olympic Roads and Transport Authority.

The new laws introduced into the NSW Parliament creating the Statutory Authority to manage the event, with responsibility for pulling together the various State Government services involved in the six-day celebration.

Mr Watkins said the Authority would plan for, co-ordinate and provide Government services for the event, using similar powers, although less extensive, as the Olympic Coordination Authority and the Olympic Roads and Transport Authority.  The Authority would have the benefit of drawing on the expertise, staff and other resources of the agencies involved in staging the event, including transport, traffic, fire, ambulance, police, health and education.

Previous hosts of World Youth Day have included Rome, Paris, Buenos Aires and Toronto.  “The 2000 Olympics has demonstrated that this is a successful approach to planning for these major events”, he said confirming the Authority would be given the power to establish special traffic lanes and close roads for crowd control purposes.  “Following the highly successful 2000 Olympics, this is another chance for us to draw on our experience of hosting large-scale international events” he said, and a chance for Sydney to showcase itself to the world.

Mr Watkins said the Authority would be dissolved after the World Youth Day.

For further information visit www.wyd2008.org