With less than a month to go until the 2010 African Nations Cup kicks off in Angola, roads, airports and stadiums remain unfinished and not one ticket has gone on sale.
The government has reportedly spent more than $1-billion building four new stadiums in Luanda, Benguela, Lubango and Cabinda, and on repairing infrastructure largely destroyed by 27 years of civil war which ended in 2002.
”It’s going to be a race against time to get everything ready,” a well-placed source told Agence France-Presse.
”The pitch in Luanda has had no maintenance for weeks because of contractual issues and there are problems getting water into the stadium so the grass needs some serious work,” the source added.
”Quite a few games are being played there so it could be a major problem.”
According to Public Works Minister Higinio Carneiro, however, there is nothing to worry about.
”The stadiums will be ready,” he told AFP. ”They’re practically ready now … there will not be any difficulty hosting the tournament in January.
”We’re just dealing with a few aspects now, mainly at the Luanda stadium, things like the external and parking areas, but this is all ongoing and the stadiums will be ready at the end of this month.”
One of the big challenges for Angola hosting the biennial Nations Cup has been preparing the Portuguese-speaking south-west Africa country for visitors.
The tournament has spurred development and new hotels have been built, although finding an affordable room, particularly in Luanda, the most expensive city in the world, could be hard for many visiting supporters.
A new four-star hotel, the Skyna in central Luanda, is charging $600 a night for a single room during January, compared to its regular $390 tariff.
Owner Alexandre Portugal told AFP: ”It’s not really expensive, and I would say for Luanda we are in the mid-range.
”Actually, it’s not a question of the hotel being expensive — I would say it’s more that what we need to spend to maintain the hotel is very expensive because everything has to be imported.”
As the competition draws closer, Luanda street vendors are selling an array of Angolan flags, shirts and caps and retailers are hoping for a bumper January.
”The official Nations Cup merchandise arrived quite late and we haven’t had so much so far but we’re expecting more to come in the next few weeks,” explained Luanda shop owner Rajan Baboo.
”It’s going to be good business for us,” he added. ”Normally, January is a quiet month, but with the Nations Cup we’re expecting long queues every day from people wanting to get their merchandise.”
The tournament begins on January 10 with the opening ceremony and first game between Angola and Mali in Luanda, where the final will also be played three weeks later.
Egypt are the defending champions having beaten Cameroon 1-0 in Ghana two years ago to claim a record sixth title. — AFP
