Erecting five new soccer stadiums and upgrading the FNB stadium will cost more than four times more than the amount projected in the 2010 soccer World Cup bid book, the Sunday Times has reported.
While the bid book anticipated construction costs of R2-billion, that amount was now put at R9,1-billion.
”[The costs] just keep going up,” a world cup insider told the newspaper.
Meanwhile, world football authorities were, becoming ”increasingly alarmed” at the absence of construction on any of the facilities.
According to the newspaper, provisional costs included R1,1-billion each for the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Port Elizabeth, and the Polokwane and Mbombela stadiums in Nelspruit.
The King Senzangakhona Stadium was expected to cost R1,7-billion; Cape Town’s Green Point Stadium between R2,3-billion and R3,3-billion; and the FNB upgrade between R1,2-billion and R1,5-billion.
Local organising committee chief executive Danny Jordaan could not be reached for comment. – Sapa