The visiting president of South Africa's 2010 World Cup
Organizing Committee, Danny Jordan, told Tuesday's Lance, a
Brazilian sports paper, that his country would offer the public and
players first-world facilities.
The event implies major improvements in infrastructure,
especially paving roads, telecommunications, increasing airport
capacity and the building and improvement of hotels, Jordan
said.
"It is an opportunity to have first world facilities, with the
best infrastructure, not just improve sport and stadia," he
said.
Despite reports of delaying in stadium and infrastructure
construction, the organizers are not worried, because the
government has freed the resources needed to complete the work, he
said.
"The government has recently made available some two billion
euros (US$2.6 billion) for the work. With this we will build five
new stadiums, refurbish four more and expand another," he said.
Five of the stadiums will be ready for the Confederations Cup in
mid-2009, he said, describing the Cup as an opportunity for the
whole continent, not just South Africa, to develop.
"We are working alongside the International Federation of
Football Associations so that we can be sure that this will not be
just an event in Africa, but instead an Africa-wide event. That is
why we will show the world how we can work together for improved
infrastructure and for better living conditions," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency December 27, 2006)