Soccer City, venue of the World Cup opener and final, was built among old mine dumps between downtown Johannesburg and the township of Soweto, posing a challenge to plans to develop the area.

The mine dumps are vestiges of the 19th century gold rush that gave birth to Johannesburg, and apartheid urban planners used them to separate the black township of Soweto from the city centre.

After the end of white-minority rule in 1994, Soweto was incorporated into the Johannesburg municipality, which hopes to use the World Cup to transform the area from a no-man's land into a sports and entertainment zone. But plans laid out two years ago have been only partially fulfilled.

"Apartheid was very figurative, it was actually creating physical barriers," said Sibongile Mazibuko, head of Johannesburg's World Cup planning team.

"This zone was also part of that divide, the mine dumps were part of that divide, and we are dealing with those," she said.

The 94,700-seater, covered in clay-coloured panels inspired by an African calabash pot, replaced the old FNB Stadium that was once mainly used by blacks for football matches and later for political meetings.

Johannesburg authorities have tried to lure private developers to the area, but companies were reluctant to invest until transport around Nasrec was improved.

A modern new bus station is now running, but a new Metrorail station opened only last week while a key highway link remains only partially completed.

A new housing complex has been built, but plans for a five-star hotel have been shelved. The Crown Mines Golf Course, across the street from Soccer City, has been renovated but other attractions and restaurants remain on the drawing board.

Mazibuko said improved transport links will help connect Soccer City to other nearby attractions, the Apartheid Museum, a roller coaster amusement park and a casino complex are about three kilometres (two miles) away.

But the main opposition Democratic Alliance said the slow pace of attracting developers around Soccer City before the World Cup raised doubts about whether the full plans would ever materialise.

"So far we have not heard any concrete future plans about this precinct, so we run a risk of this becoming a white elephant," spokesman Solly Nkhi said.