Spanish construction group ACS-Dragados is vying with a Franco-Canadian-led consortium for the right to build a high-speed rail link in South Africa ready for the 2010 World Cup finals, financial daily La Gaceta reported.

The $1.2 billion project would link Pretoria with Johannesburg and Johannesburg International Airport, some 80 kilometres further south.

After losing out to c in the race to stage the 2006 finals South Africa won the right to become the first African country to stage world football's premier event in 2010.

The country is now engaged in modernising its infrastructure while getting ready to host the tournament.
ACS-Dragados, which has a hotline to the footballing world in the shape of its chairman Florentino Perez, who is also chairman of Spanish giants Real Madrid, will go up against the Bombela group, headed by French group Bouygues and Canada's Bombardier.

La Gaceta reported that the latter pair are teaming up with South Africa's own Basil Read Concor Holdings and Murray and Roberts.

A decision on who obtains preferred bidder status of the two rival consortia is likely to fall at the end of November.

The train, operating at up to 160 kilometres per hour, will operate for 18 hours a day with a minimum six trains per hour due to operate in each direction.

Much of the 12-station route is designed to run underground to minimise the environmental impact of the project, which is earmarked to come on stream by 2009 and create up to 2,000 permanent jobs.