Construction of Cape Town’s R2,9-billion Green Point Stadium, being built to host a 2010 Soccer World Cup semifinal, is five weeks ahead of schedule.
The city’s 2010 spokesperson, Pieter Cronje, told a media briefing at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Thursday that contractors had completed phase one, which was excavation and laying foundations.
Now they are moving into phase two, construction of the base or pedestal surrounding the stadium bowl.
This will create the spaces for parking, technical facilities and other equipment.
He said the building was still taking place under a provisional authorisation from the city council.
Plans for the final version of the stadium are open for inspection and comment until close of business on Thursday.
The application for final authorisation will go before the council before the end of this month, Cronje said.
The stadium has not yet cleared the hurdle of a court challenge by a group opposed to its location. No date has been set for this hearing.
Earlier, 2010 local organising committee (LOC) communications director Tim Modise told a meeting of the African Editors’ Forum, also at the convention centre, that South Africa will ”most definitely” be ready to host the tournament.
There is a project management plan, and it is being followed.
”Are we keeping to the time lines? Most definitely,” he said.
The planned Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg is expected to be handed over to world soccer governing body Fifa between April and June 2009, ahead of the October deadline set by the international body.
”Definitely we are on track and we will deliver the infrastructure on time,” he said.
Asked by an Ethiopian delegate to the forum about safety at the cup, LOC security chief Linda Mti said no questions has been asked about security when South Africa recently hosted the Super 14 rugby final.
Questions about South Africa’s high crime rate are ”more associated with soccer” than with other sports, he said.
”We are confident that we will be able to host a safe and secure championship in 2010,” he said.
Another delegate, Nigerian television executive Tony Akiotu, complained about the ”unnecessarily cumbersome” process of securing a visa to enter South Africa.
”It shouldn’t be difficult to come to South Africa,” he said.
Modise said Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has been appointed a member of the LOC board so that the LOC can interact directly with her on some of these concerns. — Sapa