JOHANNESBURG, June 10 (Reuters) - Two years ahead of the 2010 World Cup, organisers in South Africa are facing soaring costs for building stadiums in addition to worries over xenophobic violence, power shortages and rampant crime.
Organising committee chief executive officer Danny Jordaan
told Reuters he expected the final cost for the construction and
renovation of 10 venues for the finals to finish well above the
current budget of 9.8 billion rand ($1.24 billion).
"It will probably be over 10 billion rand," Jordaan said,
adding that the financing of the venues remained a challenge.
"We are dealing with now with final costs of the stadiums,
which are soaring as a result of the downturn in the world
economy and rising fuel prices," he said.
Jordaan said there was still potential for cost overruns on
some major remaining tenders by the cities hosting matches
although 94 percent of items had been procured.
"We don't know what the final impact of the economic
downturn will be on our costs. It's unfortunately a moving
target," he said.
South African inflation hit a 5-1/2 year high of 10.4
percent in April. Rising fuel prices and likely electricity
price hikes to address a dire power crisis mean it could go
higher.
Jordaan said recent attacks on African immigrants, accused
by poor South Africans of taking jobs and fuelling a crime wave,
also had a potentially negative impact on the tournament. At
least 62 people were killed and nearly 100,000 displaced.
"It was a setback for the image of South Africa but it was
behaviour that was un-South African," Jordaan said.
Despite his concerns, Jordaan promised "a wonderful event",
which will begin at Johannesburg's 94,000-seater Soccer City
Stadium on June 11, 2010.
"I think what we've achieved since May 2004 gives me a level
of contentment and confidence that the event will be a success,"
he added.
South Africa were awarded the right to host the 2010 event
four years ago, winning an-all Africa contest ahead of Morocco,
Egypt and a joint-bid from Tunisia and Libya.
"I'm happy with how quickly we have come along and with the
legacy we are going to leave for football in this country. Our
stadiums will be world class," Jordaan said.
South Africa are upgrading five existing venues and building
five new stadium for the 32-team event.
Initial estimates for stadium construction and renovation
were set at just under 6 billion rand while a further 13.6
billion rand is being invested in infrastructure directly
related to the tournament.
