The 2007 Medium Term Expenditure Framework provides for 9.5 billion rand to be spent on 2010 World Cup stadiums and their supporting infrastructure, raising the total contribution from the national fiscus to 14.9 billion rand, the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement reported on Wednesday.
 
This amount includes some three billion rand for stadium construction and 2.4 billion rand for supporting transport infrastructure, announced in the 2006 February budget.
 
The statement tabled at Parliament by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel on Wednesday reported that the budget will also include provision for cultural and social cohesion events leading up to and during the competition, communication infrastructure improvements, emergency health and disaster management services and improved services at ports of entry "and an increase in security personnel and arrangements to ensure the safety of visitors and participants".
 
The nine host cities for the World Cup matches are Cape Town, Nelson Mandela (Port Elizabeth), eThekwini (Durban), Mbombela, Polokwane, Rustenburg, Tshwane (Pretoria), Johannesburg and Mangaung.
 
Manuel told a news briefing on Wednesday that the 14.9 billion rand figure included some 5.6 billion rand for new stadiums, just short of two billion rand for the upgrading of existing stadiums, almost 600 million rand for bulk services and 5.5 billion rand for supportive infrastructure.

I-Net Bridge
Publisher: I-Net Bridge
Source: I-Net Bridge