The highly anticipated Rugby World Cup 2011 in New Zealand is gaining momentum with the country’s economy showing signs of immense progress including the expansion of the Eden Park plus a new stadium construction in Dunedin.

According to business reports, the building consents value for non residential buildings increased by 35 percent from May last year to $479 million, thanks to the construction of Dunedin and Eden Park stadiums. These figures are considered to be the second highest value on record. The highest was hit last April at $530 million.

Eden Park, which will host the Rugby World Cup, boasts of an expanded seating capacity from 48,000 to 60,000. The cost of this expansion reached $240.5 million. The New Zealand government contributed nearly $200 million for this big project.

The Dunedin Stadium will have 35,000 seats and the construction costs $200 million. The target finish is on 2011, just in time for the Rugby World Cup.

In terms of residential buildings figures, the fate is reversed with overall value dropping 26 percent than last year’s. Despite these figures, economists are optimistic that there will be a reversal on the trend due to the existence of above-mentioned projects.