Thursday, March 26, 2009

SA 2010 venues 'ready by October'

Danny Jordaan, the president of the 2010 World Cup organizing committee
Danny Jordaan says all 2010 World Cup venues will be ready by October

Danny Jordaan, the president of the 2010 World Cup organising committee, expects all stadiums for the tournament to be completed by October.

Jordaan is currently undertaking a promotional campaign for this year's Confederations Cup.

He added that the tournament will allay any fears over preparations.

"For the World Cup, we shall have six new stadiums and by October of this year all of the stadiums will be ready for the World Cup," he said.

He also explained that the stadiums for the Confederations Cup have all been used before.

"They are ready and have been used in previous events such as the 1995 Rugby World Cup," he said.

"These are Ellis Park in Johannesburg, Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg, Loftus Versveld (Pretoria) and Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein."

About 450,000 supporters are expected to travel to South Africa for the World Cup - down from the two million that traveled to Germany in 2006.

Jordaan said security will be a high priority with questions raised over the country's crime record.

"We have committed 1.3bn South African Rand (US$138m) to increase the police force," Jordaan said.

"Our security teams worked at World Cup 2006, Euro 2008 and the Beijing Olympics.

"The team has worked at 15 events and we are confident that our team can provide a safe environment."

He pointed out that security has not been a problem in the past for majot sporting events held in South Africa.

"We have hosted many events and all those events went off without problem.

"The Rugby World Cup in 1995 passed without incident.

"At the African Cup of Nations in 1996, there were no problems, and the Cricket World Cup in 2003 featured no problems."

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