The tender process for the building of five major stadiums for the 2010 Soccer World Cup is expected to be completed before the end of this year and the host cities will thereafter announce the winning contracts, Deputy Finance Minister Jabu Moleketi said on Wednesday.
Addressing a media conference in Pretoria — which was beamed to Cape Town — on the preparations for the World Cup, he said after negotiations over the finer details with the winning bidders, building is likely to start in February 2007.
He noted that preparatory work had been done at the FNB/Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg, the Durban Stadium, the Green Point Stadium, the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Port Elizabeth and at the stadium in Polokwane.
He expressed confidence that the stadiums will be completed in the appointed time and noted that he would prefer to avoid court action being taken in Green point in Cape Town — where there is some civic opposition to the project.
“On Green Point there are quite clearly a number of interests that we need to navigate to ensure that at the end of the day, we are able to build a multi-purpose facility that will not just be a venue for 2010.”
He hoped that people will be able to see a “bigger benefit” beyond some of the concerns that have been raised about the Cape Town project.
Police Deputy Commissioner Andre Pruis said that there will be 192Â 000 police members nationwide by 2010 and about 30Â 000 will be devoting their attention entirely to the World Cup. They will focus on the security of the host cities “specifically”, he said, but they will also be involved in airport and port security.
He said that the police will be provided with command vehicles that have cameras.
“I can sit in Pretoria and see what is going on at a stadium,” he said. “We are going to have a fleet of 40 helicopters,” he said.
Pruis said that the host cities have been divided into various sectors. A geographical information system is being put in place to identify stadiums, accommodation in a given area and places “where events will take place” during the World Cup in each of the sectors.
Each host city will have two fan theme parks, the government announced, where screens will be provided and areas for the selling of World Cup-related goods will be set up.
Moleketi noted that only about three million people will be able to attend matches at the stadiums while the millions of other people will need to be accommodated elsewhere.
He said that South Africa’s neighbouring states — such as Mozambique — will be encouraged to provide hub-accommodation areas for competing states, such as the Brazil team and supporters in Maputo. This is a way of drawing African neighbouring states into the World Cup project. — I-Net Bridge