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PREPARING SOUTH AFRICA FOR THE WORLD |
Local Organising Committee CEO Danny Jordaan has established himself as the face of the 2010 World Cup. He headed South Africa's unsuccessful 2006 World Cup bid, and then played a massive role in securing the rights to host the tournament four years later. He is now responsible for running the day-to-day affairs of the organisation tasked with staging a successful tournament. Project 2010 asked him…  There are concerns that Nelson Mandela Bay could miss the deadline for next year's Confederations Cup. How serious is the situation? The real issue here is that Port Elizabeth was always going to be a situation we would have to monitor closely. The reason is that instead of a 31-month period, that stadium has a 24-month schedule for construction. We would have to deliver it almost a year ahead of the required time (for the other 2010 stadia). It was always going to be a tall order (and) this is a decision we still have to take. Even if it is not ready for the Confederations Cup, it will still be the first stadium that will be ready for 2010. Can you describe how the preparations are going in terms of access control, particularly ticketing, and the other technology you are planning on using for 2010? You are raising a question that is now being debated. There is a question of the RFID (radio frequency identification) technology, but what we want to do is discuss the ticket and access technology together with the other codes, like rugby and football because it's about the legacy. If we have to put in infrastructure that cannot be sustained by the post-event users of the stadium, then it may be a waste of cost, but if the additional investment brings about a higher level and more sophisticated organisation around major events then, of course, we are prepared to do that. So this is a discussion that we are now having with the Premier Soccer League and rugby (authorities). What are the other pressing concerns at the moment regarding the 2010 World Cup stadium projects? We need to focus on the broadcast IT infrastructure which is called overlay. You have a basic stadium with all the infrastructure which operates on a daily basis and when you have a major international event like the World Cup, you may find there may be additional requirements so that gap between what you require for an event and what exists is called overlay. So that's where we are going to focus at the moment. Concerns have also been raised about the power problems in the country and the impact it might have on 2010. What is your response? We've indicated to Eskom the requirements of the host cities (and) we've asked them to factor that into the planning from now until 2010. Also we've indicated to them that as far as the stadia and the broadcasters are concerned, the primary source of energy will be generators and therefore we will look at Eskom as the alternative. We are now going to create an energy work stream to work with Eskom to ensure that we do not experience problems around the host cities during the World Cup. They have made that commitment, so we are satisfied. more interviews... |
