Tshwane uses 2010 to fuel township development

Tshwane - As one of the nine host cities of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the Tshwane metropolitan municipality has devised plans to use this major event as a catalyst to develop its townships.

The main fixtures will be played at the Loftus Stadium, which is currently being revamped and upgraded to meet FIFA's requirements.

The improvements are set to be complete by October 2008, said the municipality, well in time to host another FIFA event, the 2009 Confederations Cup.

In addition, three venues in the metro's townships have been identified as training venues for the international teams, during the 2009 and 2010 soccer matches.

"The venues are being developed to FIFA's standards to ensure that world-class facilities are provided in the underdeveloped parts of Tshwane," the municipality said.

"Both FIFA events are being used as conduits to fast-track the City of Tshwane's infrastructural developments for 2010 and beyond."

The Super Stadium in Atteridgeville, the HM Pitje Stadium in Mamelodi and the Giant Stadium in Soshanguve will thus become hubs of development and investment in their respective areas.

In order to properly coordinate its activities related to the soccer spectacular, the municipality established a dedicated office earlier this year, tasked with ensuring their readiness to run successful events in 2009 and 2010.

The office plays a coordination role and is headed by a chief executive officer.

In addition, a steering committee has been established to play an advisory role to the 2010 office. The committee meets every month and is chaired by the Executive Mayor, Gwen Ramokgopa.

The steering committee is further supported by working groups that are individually co-chaired by the five members of the Mayoral Committee and representatives from external stakeholders' associations.

The working groups are Promotion of Football; Safety, Security, Health and Environmental Affairs; Hospitality (encompassing Tourism and Entrepreneurship); Marketing, Communication and Community Involvement, Infrastructure and Public Transport.

The committee is completed by five members of the Mayoral Committee, the Municipal Manager, the 2010 Programme Office CEO, a representative of Blue Bulls Company, a representative of the South African Football Association in the Tshwane region, a representative of Mamelodi Sundowns FC and a representative of SuperSport United.

World Cup fixtures will be played in ten stadia, distributed across nine cities. Five of these arenas are being renovated to comply with FIFA's requirements, while the other half are being built from scratch.

Construction has started on all the five arenas to be newly built.

Renovations to four of the stadiums set to host 2010 fixtures would be complete by December 2008.

These stadiums are Vodacom Park in Mangaung, Royal Bafokeng in Rustenburg, Loftus stadium in Pretoria and Ellis Park in Johannesburg.

Those who will be completed by October 2009 are Mbombela in Nelspruit, Peter Mokaba (Polokwane), Nelson Mandela Bay, Green Point (Cape Town) Moses Mabhida (Durban) and the Soccer City in Johannesburg.