FIFA pleased with progress South Africa making for 2010 World Cup
CAPE TOWN, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) — World football's governing body FIFA said Tuesday that South Africa's programme of stadium building remained on schedule, despite a recent strike by construction workers in Cape Town.
"So far, things are all right," FIFA spokesman Alain Leiblang told journalists in Cape Town as a FIFA delelation wrapped up a tour of the 2010 World Cup hosts.
"All things are on track. I don't want to say for the future, but for the two cities that we have inspected everything is correct."
Amid a three-day inspection of four of the country's nine tournament host cities, Leiblang said outstanding issues were merely a matter of detail.
No serious shortcomings had been identified, and there was littles concern over recent labour disputes between workers and stadium construction companies in Cape Town and Durban.
"This is nothing. I have known much worse," said Leiblang -- referring to a general strike in France as it prepared to host the same tournament in 1998.
"So far, we have a calender, we have a time schedule, it is on track."
Leiblang was part of a group of FIFA subject experts in South Africa to examine progress with information technology, telecommunications, stadium building, media and marketing, hospitality and security.
The team visited Johannesburg on Monday, Cape Town on Tuesday, and will proceed to Durban and Port Elizabeth on Wednesday.
The visit was partly aimed at ensuring a balance between FIFA's World Cup needs and the legacy to remain after the world's most popular sporting event is staged on African soil for the first time ever.
"From time to time we have to say: 'take care, don't go in this direction, there is no need. Don't do more than we need'," said Leiblang.
Construction of the 68,000-seater Green Point Stadium, due to host one of the 2010 semi-finals, was halted for a week last month in a dispute over travel benefits.
And workers at Durban's Moses Mabhida Stadium have threatened to down tools for higher wages.
