After the Local Organising Committee and the provincial government held a meeting in Johannesburg, Chief Executive Officer Danny Jordaan, told the press that they are happy with the progress that was being made concerning the stadium.

The Local Organising Committee met with the provincial government in order to talk over the key achievements and challenges that the municipality has overcome in making the dreams of millions of Africans to host the best world cup, a reality.

“According to our evaluation, the province is ahead of schedule with the construction of all host stadia ahead of the 2009 Confederations Cup,” said Mr Jordaan.

Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation MEC Barbara Creecy said: “The provincial government will ensure that we honour the commitments we have made to satisfy all FIFA’s requirements and meet the high expectations of people throughout the continent and the world.”

Ms Creecy said the province will now shift its focus to the logistics of the events.

“We will be prioritising our traffic management and safety and security,” she said, adding that the Vodacom Challenge final hosted at Loftus Versfeld in July had been a successful test for the province’s readiness in terms on crowd controls and safety.

Ms Creecy also noted that the province will be finalising some of the guarantees they made in relation to health and emergency matters.

A lot of work needs to be done to ensure that the points of entry in to the province have the necessary health measures in place for the millions of people expected in the province, she said.

Numerous fan parks will be built in and around the stadiums, as well as in host cities outside the world cup zone, non-host cities in South Africa and in Africa. There are 32 countries participating in the event.

The fan parks will ensure that as many people as possible will be able to view the matches and “get a better idea of what South Africa is about,” said the MEC.

MEC for Public Transport, Roads and Works, Ignatius Jacobs told the briefing that traffic congestion remained a problem in the province but the department was addressing this.

“We have the Gautrain, the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit, Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project and the single coupon system, all of which are designed to ease the traffic jams on major highway.”

The 2010 World Cup football spectacle was expected to inject about R21.3 billion into the South African economy - generating an estimated R12.7 billion in direct spending and creating an estimated 159 000 new jobs.


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