February 7, 2007
By Lucky Sindane
THE hard work done by the Local Organising Committee in preparing for the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup has not gone unnoticed.
And the general secretary of Fifa (Federation of International Football Associations), Urs Linsi, has said he was impressed with the progress made by the committee.
The first 2010 project, the new state-of-the-art Safa House, was officially handed over a week ago, and the committee and Fifa have since relocated to the South African Football Association (Safa) head offices.
The first annual general meeting of the board of directors of the world cup organising committee was held this week. Speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday, 6 February in Sandton after the meeting, Linsi said, "This was our very first meeting and it went very well. I was also impressed by the respect shown towards each other."
Danny Jordaan, CEO of the LOC shaking hands with Urs Linsi, Fifa general secretary, Irvin Khoza, chairman of the LOC and David Will, Fifa vice-president
Among the issues that were discussed were the construction of stadiums, venues for the 2009 Fifa Confederations Cup and Safa House.
The chairman of the Local Organising Committee, Irvin Khoza, said: "Work is well under way on the construction of the five new stadiums. Work on the five existing venues must begin by the second quarter of 2007."
He set several minds at rest, saying, "Concerns over budget overruns, particularly in the cities of Cape Town and Durban, have been resolved and work is ongoing."
The board of directors also revealed that all stadiums would be completed by 31 October 2009 and would be handed over to Fifa.
"Core elements such as the official seating manifest and seat assignment, and the match and broadcast schedules are intimately interconnected and can only be finalised following the official handover of the stadiums," Khoza explained.
Linsi said his organisation was convinced that all the stadiums would be ready by 31 October 2009. "Challenges are there but we can overcome them."
Fifa vice-president and chairman of the Fifa ticketing sub-committee, David Will, said: "There's still a lot of work that needs to be done by the ticketing sub-committee, but we have started. Contractors need to respect the deadline because we will need seven months after the completion of [one] stadium to be able to ticket [that] stadium."
Meanwhile, five venues have been identified for the 2009 Fifa Confederations Cup. They are Ellis Park stadium, Loftus Versveld stadium, Free State stadium, Royal Bafokeng stadium and Port Elizabeth stadium.
A Fifa inspection tour is scheduled to take place from 19 to 24 February in Johannesburg, Polokwane, Pretoria, Rustenburg and Bloemfontein.
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