South Africa's capacity to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup has received a massive financial injection of R17,4billion.
South Africa's capacity to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup has received a massive financial injection of R17,4billion.
The allocation was announced by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel in his budget speech yesterday and is R2,3million more than the amount projected last October.
The total also represents a R13,3billion addition from the R4,1billion that Manuel had allocated to the event in last February's budget.
Of this total R8,4billion will be spent on stadiums and R9billion for transport infrastructure.
The additional money for transport also covers the introduction of rapid bus systems in each major metropolitan area where world cup games will be hosted.
Deputy Finance Minister Jabu Moleketi said constructors had had discussions with the Treasury and it was clear that they had "overcompensated" for risk.
It has been estimated that the event will bring in more than R22billion into the country.
The nine host cities are Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Mbombela, Polokwane, Rustenburg, Pretoria, Johannesburg and Manguang.
The critical dates:
December 2006: Stadium and transport infrastructure planning completed.
January 2007: New stadium and supporting infrastructure construction starts.
September 2008: Fifa inspection team reviews state of readiness.
December 2008: Construction work on selected stadiums complete.
June 2009: South Africa hosts the Confederation Cup.
December 2009: Stadiums and supporting infrastructure complete.
June 2010: World Cup.