| Strike drags on at 2010 stadium - 03/07/2008 |
Work has still not resumed at Mpumalanga’s 2010 World Cup stadium after workers downed tools in a wage protest. The workers picketing the Mbombela Stadium site outside Nelspruit include 500 dismissed last week, after appealing directly to President Thabo Mbeki to intervene when he visited the site. The Star reports that the Mbombela Stadium Joint Venture fired the workers for an unprotected strike in defiance of earlier agreements. The demands include bigger nightshift allowances and better performance bonuses. Mbombela 2010 Manager Differ Mogale said authorities were concerned the strike would delay completion and hinder the province’s ability to meet its 2010 contracts.
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Full report in The Star
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| R100m needed to fix roads - 01/07/2008
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Johannesburg roads are set to get worse as a funding shortfall grows. The Johannesburg Roads Agency said its road-maintenance funding deficit exceeded R100m. This would limit its ability to maintain a battered road infrastructure and stall surfacing of new roads. Business Day reports that the agency needs R156m for maintenance this financial year. Improving roads would take three times as much. Despite the cash crunch, the agency was going ahead with its preparations for 2010. Motorists would benefit as 60km of main arterial roads were identified as ’zero-pothole roads’ in a bid to upgrade city infrastructure for the Confederations Cup next year and the World Cup in 2010.
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Full Business Day report
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| Power shortages disrupts construction - 30/06/2008 |
Disruptions at most 2010 World Cup projects around the country have emanated from labour disputes. But the construction site of the new King Shaka airport and a trade zone in Durban have been zapped by an incompetent electricity supplier. The supplier appointed by the eThekwini municipality to build the La Mercy substation has been fired for not performing. Rohan Persard, the CE at Dube Tradeport, which is handling the project on behalf of the government, said that the substation was behind schedule by as much as four months. According to Business Report, if the delay was not addressed, it would mean that the airport, which is supposed to be operational for the 2010 World Cup, would be completed by July 2010.
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Full story in Business Report
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| Major facelift for Dobsonville stadium - 29/06/2008 |
Soon the neglected Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto will be the place to go for all self-respecting fitness freaks. It might look unassuming from the outside but the dusty and rickety Dobsonville Stadium of the past is going to represent modern technology with world-class facilities once completed. All that thanks to the 2010 World Cup. The Sunday World reports that when the games and the soccer fans have come and gone and when Bafana have failed to qualify for the second round, the Donsonville community, the Soweto community and even the entire Johnnesburg community will be left with a world-class athletics and soccer facility to enjoy at their leisure. Schools will also be able to utilise the stadium and its facilities after the World Cup.
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Full Sunday World report
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| Grand Parade upgrade gets under way - 29/06/2008 |
Work has begun on the upgrade of the Grand Parade, which will be used as a fan park during the 2010 World Cup if FIFA approves. Pieter Cronje, the city’s 2010 spokesperson, said: ’I think the announcement will be made soon but don’t have a definite date yet. There is plenty of time’ The parade will be resurfaced and new services installed. ’There will be data cables that would can be used for soccer broadcasts, and future events ,’ said Cronje. The work is expected to take nine months. According to a report on the IoL site, traders currently operating on the Parade would be accommodated during the construction phase, although some might be moved to other parts of the parade.
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Full report on the IoL site
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| Gautrain behind schedule - 27/06/2008
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Despite being slightly behind schedule, there is no cause for concern that the Gautrain will not be completed according to schedule, assures Gautrain project leader Jack van der Merwe. Concession company, Bombela’s civil joint venture (JV) has decided to increase its capacity, has bought extra equipment and has been working additional shifts. Van der Merwe says Bombela has assured Gauteng province that it can finish the project on time. Van der Merwe says that challenges delaying the project have included the difficulties associated with managing 43 active construction sites and the fact that Bombela has hit a large underground river near the Park station tunnel. According to Engineering News, South Africa does not have a homogeneous geology and the varied geology has proved to be challenging for tunnelling activities.
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Full Engineering news report
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| Airport projects on track - 27/06/2008
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Engineering, procurement and construction consortium the Ilembe joint venture (JV) is working hard to ensure that the new international airport at La Mercy, north of Durban, is completed in time for the 2010 World Cup. Engineering News reports that Ilembe JV project director Duncan Barry explains that the consortium consists of 16 companies that will deliver the new airport project, as well as a project for the KwaZulu-Natal province that balances capacity and skills with empowerment. Barry adds that Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) would have appointed consultants to do the design, but, in this instance, the contract called for the design, build, construction and maintenance of the airport.
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Full Engineering News report
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| Airport projects on track - 27/06/2008
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Engineering, procurement and construction consortium the Ilembe joint venture (JV) is working hard to ensure that the new international airport at La Mercy, north of Durban, is completed in time for the 2010 World Cup. Engineering News reports that Ilembe JV project director Duncan Barry explains that the consortium consists of 16 companies that will deliver the new airport project, as well as a project for the KwaZulu-Natal province that balances capacity and skills with empowerment. Barry adds that Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) would have appointed consultants to do the design, but, in this instance, the contract called for the design, build, construction and maintenance of the airport.
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Full Engineering News report
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| Mega hotel project for CT - 26/06/2008
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A mega development including a 180 room five star hotel, associated boutique restaurants and retailing, 90 luxury apartments and 7 000 sq m of offices is being developed on a prime canal fronting site at Century City by the Rabie Property Group. To be built at a cost of more than R700m, Crystal Towers is the largest development to be undertaken at Century City since the Canal Walk shopping centre, which was completed in 2000. The hotel will form part of Protea Hotel’s exclusive African Pride collection of superior deluxe 5 star hotels offering the highest international standards of service, luxury accommodation and superior facilities. According to a Cape Business News report, construction of the development has started with the hotel scheduled for completion in November 2009 in time for the 2010 World Cup.
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Full Cape Business News report
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| Bay stadium on track - 26/06/2008
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Despite some challenges, Nelson Mandela Bay’s R1.5bn multi-purpose stadium will be ready host the Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup. Mzukisi Skade, of the metro’s 2010 office, said he was confident that all FIFA requirements would be met as construction of the stadium was progressing very well. He made a presentation during a 2010 stakeholders’ forum meeting. The Herald reports that in terms of items that should be completed by December, the project was on track. These included the stadium roof, the pitch, the installation of permanent seats, and the completion of offices, all 22 FIFA suites, ablution facilities and vendor kiosks.
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| Loftus will be ready for 2010 - 24/06/2008 |
Upgrading Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria is ’slightly’ behind schedule but the stadium will be ready for the 2010 World Cup, manager Hugo Kemp said. ’Every construction job goes behind at some stage,’ he said in reaction to reports that Loftus and the Tshwane metro were behind schedule for 2010. ’This is not a concern as we will make up time lost,’ he said. The Citizen reports that Kemp pointed out that the cost of the upgrade to Loftus was R100m. The rebuilding of Soccer City south of Johannesburg is estimated at about R1.56bn. ’I have no fear whatsoever we will complete the renovations ahead of schedule on December 2008,’ Kemp added.
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Full report in The Citizen
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| Highway construction gets under way - 24/06/2008 |
South African Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe, celebrated the start of construction of the recently awarded R11.5bn contracts for the first phase of South African National Roads Agency Limited’s (Sanral’s) Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project, by participating in a sod-turning ceremony in Johannesburg. Sanral had, in May, awarded seven contracts to five joint-venture firms that would upgrade a number of highways around Gauteng to add additional lanes and improve interchanges. Engineering News reports that the construction of the first phase of the project was expected to be substantially complete by May 2010, before the start of the 2010 World Cup.
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Full Engineering News report
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| Hard times for small contractors - 24/06/2008 |
Civil construction confidence dropped five points in the second quarter as small contractors felt the pinch of increased costs and power- supply constraints. The big companies are sitting pretty with long-term infrastructure projects, FNB’s Civil Construction Confidence Index, compiled by the Bureau for Economic Research.’ ’Perhaps after the national elections next year, the provincial and local government could ease constraints for projects,’ said Cees Bruggemanns, chief economist for FNB. According to The Times, he said ’the big contractors could look forward to good results beyond the 2010 World Cup spend.’ Bruggemans said ’growth in employment had slowed in the second quarter.’
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Full report in The Times report
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| Informal settlement upgrade ahead of 2010 - 20/06/2008 |
A long-awaited upgrade of Hout Bay’s Imizamo Yethu informal settlement could start in 18 months, the Good Hope sub-council has heard. Hout Bay ward councillor Marga Haywood told the meeting that following successful community meetings this week to consider a final development plan for the area, bulldozers could be expected to move in and raze current informal housing to make way for two-storey flats, schools and a clinic. According a report on the IoL site, the ANC councillor John Mokoena said that even though upgrades were on the cards for the impoverished communities of Hout Bay, he was still concerned that poor and affluent parts of the area had not been well integrated. Sub-council chairman JP Smith said the sub-council would continue to focus on the upgrade of four major public open areas: Greenmarket Square, the Grand Parade, St George’s Mall and the station deck, as these would all be vital spaces for the 2010 World Cup.
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Full report on IoL site
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| More B&B’s for 2010 visitors - 23/06/2008 |
The municipalities of Greater Tzaneen and Letaba in Limpopo have received R13m for the construction of bed and breakfast facilities for the 2010 World Cup. The Sowetan reports that Tshepo Machipi, Greater Tzaneen tourism development officer, said the money was donated by Irish Aid donors in Ireland. Machipi said the money was for the Mefakeng Tourism Development Programme to build and upgrade existing B&Bs in the area. The project will be completed by the end of this year. ’It will for the development of the facilities in the areas like Muhlava, GaSekgopo and Thabina villages with the emphasis on tourism,’ said Machipi. ’Most of the areas that we’ve identified are 30 minutes’ drive from Polokwane, one of the host cities for the 2010 World Cup. It is a golden opportunity for our communities in this part of the province to also benefit from the spin-offs of the World Cup.’
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Full report in The Sowetan
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| Government praises Polokwane’s progress - 20/06/2008 |
The city of Polokwane has made significant progress in the development of Peter Mokaba stadium for the 2010 World Cup, South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, said during her visit to Limpopo province. Mlambo-Ngcuka praised the city for its planning and progress to date on Peter Mokaba stadium and the broad approach the city has taken in its preparations. Engineering News reports that communications and commercial affairs executive director for the 2010 World Cup’s LOC, Tim Modise, told delegates at a two-day international media forum conference held in Bryanston, Johannesburg, last month, that the city of Polokwane’s 2010 World Cup preparations would be completed several months before the event kicked off in July. The Peter Mokaba stadium visit forms part of the Presidency’s, and the 2010 inter-Ministerial Committee’s oversight tool, and routine visits will monitor and evaluate progress, said Mlambo-Ngcuka.
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Full Engineering News report
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| PE races to finish within extended deadline - 20/06/2008 |
The Nelson Mandela Bay stadium, in PE, is set to be completed in time to meet the deadlines set by FIFA, after the world soccer governing body raised concerns about the pace of developments in the building of the new R1.2bn stadium. FIFA and the 2010 World Cup LOC announced last month that the Nelson Mandela multipurpose stadium was back on track as one of five stadiums to host the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, which is to be held between June 14 and June 28, 2009, and serves as a prelude to the 2010 World Cup. Engineering News reports that FIFA drew up two separate calendars for the 2009 Confederations Cup, earlier this year, one with four venues and another with five to include PE in preparation for the event. LOC chairperson Irvin Khoza, however, expressed his faith in the readiness of the stadium as host of the Confederations Cup, at a media conference held in PE last month.
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Full Engineering News report
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| Airport upgrade costs escalate - 20/06/2008 |
Escalating construction costs significantly impacted the infrastructure upgrades of the Airports Company of South Africa (Acsa), and the envisaged spend of R19.3bn between 2008 and 2012 had already risen by almost 14% to around R22bn, owing largely to unprecedented inflation in building material costs. Acsa CE Monhla Hlahla stated that Acsa’s 2008 planned infrastructure spend was R3.8bn for its nine airports in South Africa, but the actual spend would be in the region of R4.4bn for the year. Engineering News reports that the huge capital expenditure was to cater for the steadily increasing passenger numbers that would be passing through the airports. Hlahla indicated that passenger numbers at the company’s airports had risen yearly by 8,5%, and that domestic traffic had grown by 11% year-on-year. These passenger numbers were expected to peak in 2010 with the World Cup. ’We are confident we will achieve these passenger numbers in 2010 – unless there is a major global crisis,’ said Hlahla.
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Full Engineering News report
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| Preparations for 2010 on track - 17/06/2008
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With the 2010 World Cup drawing nearer, the LOC assured MPs that construction of soccer stadiums was well on schedule. 2010 World LOC Technical Head Moira Tlagale said construction work in four of the ten stadiums currently being built would be completed in December, well ahead of the 2009 African Confederation Cup kick off. ’The only stadium that will not be completed by the December 2008 deadline is the Nelson Mandela Bay in Port Elizabeth,’ she said. The Citizen reports that, the stadium would be ready by March, three months before the commencement of the African Confederations Cup on June 14. ’It should be given leeway based on the fact that its a new stadium,’ Tlagale said. Construction work on four of the other stadiums, including Royal Bafokeng, Loftus Versfeld and Ellis Park, would be completed before the end of the year. Tlagale said the LOC committee was confident that all the 10 stadiums currently under construction would be ready well before the 2010 games.
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Full report in The Citizen
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| Practice stadiums on track - 16/06/2008
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Construction at one of Ekurhuleni’s 2010 World Cup practice stadiums is well on track and scheduled to be ready by the middle of 2009. This is according to Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality’s 2010 General Manager Maropeng Raphela, who said the R38 million injection into the Makhulong Stadium would give it a major facelift. While none of the world cup matches will be played in Ekurhuleni, there are four practice stadiums namely Sinaba, Vosloosrus, Makhulong, and Katlehong stadiums which will be used as practice venues. BuaNews reports that the Makhulong Stadium is situated in the informal settlement of Thembisa. With a planned capacity of about 15 000 seats, the stadium will comply with all FIFA and Premier Soccer League requirements. These include flood lights, player and management facilities, security, amenities, VIP and V-VIP areas as well as accommodate a 200 square meter media facility.
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Full BuaNews report
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| Acsa splashes out on 2010 - 15/06/2008 |
The Airports Company of SA (Acsa) spent R80 million of its capital expenditure budget on IT in the last financial year and will spend more in the coming period to be 2010-ready. Acsa is currently in a R21.9 billion five-year spending programme to get its 10 airports ready for the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup. The airports company has showcased some of the technology at OR Tambo International Airport. Airport GM Christopher Hlekane said some projects that had been scheduled to run until 2012 had been brought forward for the football spectacular.
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Full ITWeb report
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| Ethekwini dismisses shortfall reports - 15/06/2008 |
Ethekwini Municipality has dismissed reports that the city needs about R3 billion more, to enable it to complete construction at the Moses Mabhida stadium. Reports say the money is needed to fund a shortfall for construction of vital infrastructure, at the 2010 World Cup venue. The city maintains all is well with the construction of the 70 000 seater stadium in Durban. The cost of building the world-class venue stands at R2.7 billion. But now there are reports that current funds are not enough and more is needed to complete the work. However the city says the reports are unfounded. It says the only additional funds that could be needed, would be for the installation of the information and communications technology and security systems.
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Full SABC report
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| 2010 upgrades on track - Aveng - 15/06/2008 |
JSE-listed engineering and construction group Aveng says that the upgrades of 2010 World Cup stadiums it is undertaking are on track and will be completed by the scheduled deadlines. Late last month, the company invited several media and industry leaders to tour the Soccer City stadium and Orlando stadium sites. Engineering News reports that Grinaker-LTA, the construction and engineering subsidiary of Aveng, in a joint venture with Interbeton, part of the Royal BAM Group, of Holland, is upgrading the iconic Soccer City stadium outside Soweto, where the opening and final matches of the 2010 soccer World Cup will be played, as well as Nelson Mandela stadium, in Port Elizabeth, and Orlando Stadium, in Soweto, which will be used as a practice venue during the tournament.
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Full Engineering News report
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| 2010 stadium reaches building milestone - 12/06/2008 |
Components for the roof of the multibillion-rand Green Point Stadium will be delivered in two months’ time with construction of the roof beginning shortly afterwards. This week, the first of the 72 columns set to support the roof structure reached its maximum height, said the city’s head of communications, spokesperson Pieter Cronje. The Cape Argus reports that he added that the milestone coincided with the two-year mark before the 2010 World Cup was set to kick off. Despite initial hiccups and a growing budget shortfall, Cronje was confident that the stadium will be ready for FIFA inspection by October 2009. ’We started late with the stadium because we had various processes to follow, which included environmental impact assessments, among other things, that received objections from the public,’ he said.
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Full Cape Argus report
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| SA airports ready for 2010 - 10/06/2008 |
SA’s three major airports will be ready by 2010 for the thousands of World Cup visitors, the Airports Company of SA (Acsa) said. ’We have done a lot with very little. I am proud to say that we are on our way,’ said CE of Acsa Monhla Hlahla. ’When it was announced that we would be hosting the World Cup in 2010, Acsa was already in the middle of it ... We then planned so that we could accommodate the peak of traffic arriving in 2010 during the weeks of the World Cup’. According to a report on the iafrica.com site, Hlahla said that an estimated 350 000 more passengers would be arriving in South Africa during the period of the tournament. ’We used the best of skills for construction for the three airports – OR Tambo International, Cape Town and Durban International. Concerning construction, we believe that we are on track with all the infrastructure being ready by 2009,’ she said.
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Full report on the iafrica.com site
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| Multi-pronged approach for Green Point - 07/06/2008 |
Cape Town will adopt a multi-pronged plan to address the almost R600-million shortfall it faces in its construction of the Green Point stadium. The Cape Argus reports that this and the city’s joint business plan with the provincial Transport Department were presented to the 2010 World Cup standing committee in the provincial legislature yesterday. The budget for transport development is R1.6 billion. Mike Marsden, executive director, service delivery integration, said ’the potential sources of income included a portion of Fifa’s ticket revenue, naming rights to the stadium which would be sold on the international market, revenue from the stadium operator after the tournament and sales of corporate suites.’ Marsden said ’the budgetary shortfall was a problem shared by other World Cup stadiums.’ Cape Town had decided not to take out a loan.
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Full Cape Argus report
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| Improved roads for Joburg - 07/06/2008 |
Billions of rand have been set aside to improve the road networks across Gauteng, with major revamps planned for several Johannesburg roads. Several road networks in Joburg have been earmarked for major revamps in the next 36 months, as part of a wide-ranging Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP). According to the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral), seven contracts worth R11.5-billion have already been issued to contractors, and construction work will begin soon. This, however, is only the first phase of the GFIP. It is estimated that R14-billion from the provincial government will be allocated to build new roads between 2010 and 2013.The project has been devised to speed up developing and upgrading road networks, in preparation for the 2010 World Cup.
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Full media release
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| Improving skills ahead of 2010 - 06/05/2008 |
The newly launched construction skills training centre in Midrand is to address the skills shortage in the construction industry ahead of the 2010 World Cup. Property24 reports that in light of increased infrastructure developments ahead of the World Cup, the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) has partnered with construction giant Group Five to open the centre.’The objectives of this project are in line with government’s policy around the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition, the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa and the 2014 goal to halve unemployment,’ according to the bank.DBSA and Group Five, in a move to bridge the gap between the required skills and the shortage, last year agreed to fund and establish construction skills training centres in Midrand, Gauteng and Grabouw, Western Cape.
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Full Property24 report
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| Government reopens stadium tender - 06/05/2008 |
The Ministry of Works and Supply has reopened the tendering procedure for construction of the new grandstand at Independence Stadium in Lusaka. Works and Supply deputy minister Mundia Ndalamei said the ministry had turned down bids by two Chinese contractors. The Zambia Post reports that he said ’the two bids submitted by the Chinese contractors for the construction of the Independence Stadium grandstand were too expensive.’Ndalamei said the new tender procedure is expected to last for three weeks.He said his ministry had also asked the new grandstand design consultant to change the design of the structure adding that the current design was too expensive.’We need to finish the stadium before the 2010 World Cup as we are hosting some teams,’ he said.
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Full Zambia Post report
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| African stadiums near completion - 05/06/2008 |
The upgrading of several African stadiums in preparations for the 2010 World Cup are on track. In Zambia, the final touches to the refurbished Konkola stadium will be made this week and the venue will be ready for the host nation’s 21 June joint Cup of Nations and 2010 World Cup qualifier against Swaziland. In Zimbabwe, contractors ACTGlobal sports are working around the clock to complete Harare’s Rufaro stadium. The stadium will have a FIFA-sponsored artificial turf installed and is expected to be used for 2010 World Cup qualifying matches . Meanwhile, the R69m facelift of the Dobsonville stadium, in Soweto, is ahead of schedule and should be completed by July. The stadium will be used as a training ground for the 2010 World Cup.
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Full report on the Project 2010 site
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