This comes just 11 months after South African President Thabo Mbeki and Fifa President Sepp Blatter held a sod-turning ceremony at what is to be the South African Football Association's (Safa's) new home.
Safa House, as it will be known, will become the central nerve centre of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, hosting operations for Fifa, the world football governing body, and the South African local organising committee.
It is envisaged that it will house 250 staff. Construction began in November last year at Soccer City, Nasrec, Johannesburg.
The new building will be 5,000 square metres in size, topped off by a dome measuring 16 metres across.
Fifa were reported as saying the headquarters would feature a "breathtaking" triple volume entrance with a museum charting the history of South Africa's football while displaying football movies in a special "pod" at the centre of the hall.
Beyond 2010, Safa House will become not only the headquarters of the South African Football Association but also the home of the Premier Soccer League.
Most of the internal work such as wiring and the installation of air- conditioning were sub-contracted to black economic empowerment companies.
Meanwhile, BuaNews reported that countrywide, the construction of four new stadiums was expected to be completed within three years. The stadiums will be designed for Cape Town (Greenpoint Stadium), Durban (Kings' Park Stadium), Port Elizabeth (Nelson Mandela Bay) and Nelspruit (Mbombela Stadium).
Of these, Durban's was set to be the biggest, hosting 85,000 soccer fans. The stadium in Port Elizabeth was to have capacity for 40,000 while Cape Town's venue would seat 70,000 and have a retractable roof. The Green Point stadium has been earmarked for one of the semi-finals games.
The other six stadiums in Rustenburg (Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace), Bloemfontein (Free State Stadium), Pretoria (Loftus Versfeld Stadium), Polokwane (Peter Mokaba Stadium), and Johannesburg (Soccer City and Ellis Park Stadiums) are being upgraded, the agency reported.
I-Net Bridge
Publisher: I-Net Bridge
Source: I-Net Bridge
