SOUTH AFRICA: FIFA inspection team impressed with South Africa's progress so far ahead of 2010 World Cup

FIFA inspectors are happy with progress at Johannesburg's Soccer City, the venue for the 2010 World Cup opening and the final matches. A three-day FIFA inspection tour of four of the nine 2010 FIFA World Cup host cities and stadiums got underway on Monday (October 8) in Johannesburg. A delegation from FIFA and the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee (LOC) visited Johannesburg's Soccer City to access progress made around the construction site. Soccer City is set to be the stage for the opening and the final of Africa's first FIFA World Cup. The delegation is composed of various experts from, marketing, IT, media, accommodation, security, and transportation. Alain Leiblang, head of FIFA's Communications and Public Affairs, said the world's soccer governing body was happy and that everything was on time. "Just to tell you a statement regarding Soccer City, everything is on the rails, everything is on time, not only for the constructions but also for the finances for the construction of the stadium. And now we are here to look at all details, not only the construction of the stadium itself, but also access to the stadiums transportation in Johannesburg and accommodation and so on. There is not much to say about this particular visit in Soccer City, I must say that, from FIFA point of view we are very happy," he said. Tim Modise, Chief Officer Of Communications and Marketing for the 2010 Fifa World Cup South Africa Organising Committee (OC), said that the Soccer City's stadium should be ready just one year before soccer's biggest event. "Now I am pleased, we are very pleased that the Soccer City visit went off to a great start. The information that we gathered there, for instance is that the stadium is 18 percent completed - the progress made is about 18 percent of the entire project, and that the project itself will be delivered in April, May of 2009, and that the money that has been dispersed so far to the contractors is around 18 percent, which is inline with the timeline that they have set for themselves. And we have also learned that the roof will be brought to Johannesburg from Italy in the early part of next year, the first quarter or second quarter of next year. So in terms of Soccer City progress, we are quite comfortable that everything is proceeding well, five six months ahead of scheduled. So that is great news for us." FIFA's inspection team is also scheduled to visit Cape Town, Nelson Mandela Bay and Durban in the coming two days. While in Durban, the team is expected to tour the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre, which will host the preliminary draw on November 25.

ITN Source | October 10, 2007

Tags:. .terms. .october. .quite. .brought. .bay