South Africa is on track, if not ahead of schedule, in its preparations for hosting the 2010 Fifa World Cup, according to local organising committee CEO Danny Jordaan.

Briefing journalists in Johannesburg on Wednesday along with committee chairperson Irvin Khoza, Jordaan said that planning, environmental impact assessments, contracts, legal issues and matters of compliance with Fifa standards would all be sorted out by the end of 2006, and that the "operational phase" would begin in 2007.

South Africa was ahead of where Germany was at a comparative stage, Jordaan said, adding: "We are ahead of the schedule between us and Fifa and they are happy with our progress." Plans for 10 stadiums in the nine host cities, and their funding, had been completed, Jordaan said, and construction work would begin early in 2007.

According to The Star, the committee has set the following targets for completion of South Africa's 2010 stadiums:

Soccer City (FNB Stadium), Johannesburg (upgrade) - 30 months . Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban (construction) - 34 months . Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane (construction)- 28 months . Loftus Versveld Stadium, Pretoria (upgrade) - 18 months. Greenpoint Stadium, Cape Town (upgrade) - 31 months. Nelson Mandela Stadium, Port Elizabeth (construction) - 24 months . Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg (upgrade) - 20 months . Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein (upgrade) - 18 months . Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg (upgrade) - 19 months . Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit (construction) - 27 months

Jordaan compared Soccer City - where the final match will be played in 2010 - with Germany's Berlin Stadium, which took 48 months to complete, whereas South Africa would finish Soccer City in 30 months. Jordaan said there would be a "tight planning, monitoring and control process" to make sure that the municipalities responsible for stadium construction and refurbishment met these targets.

According to Business Day, the board of the committee has appointed a technical team of architects, engineers and surveyors to help the municipalities. The construction industry had been consulted and "they all felt the deadlines were realistic," Business Day quoted Jordaan as saying.

Jordaan said South Africa would exceed Fifa's requirement of being able to accommodate 55 000 football fans in 2010. The committee, he said, had already contracted 19 000 rooms - compared to the 20 000 that Germany had contracted at the comparative stage.

Jordaan also emphasised that South Africa had the ability to safeguard every person coming to the World Cup. The country "has demonstrated the ability to safeguard big events," he said. "It has demonstrated that in the [1995] Rugby World Cup, the [2002] World Summit on Sustainable Development and the [2003] Cricket World Cup."

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