Officials say South African transport system on schedule for 2010 World cup

South Africa is on schedule with its transportation network overhaul and will be ready to handle the influx of tourists during the 2010 World Cup, transport minister Jeff Radebe said Tuesday.

The government will spend 160 billion rand (US$21.5 billion) in the next three years for new roads, refurbished trains, a rapid bus system and better airports in a bid to improve the country's infrastructure for 2010 and beyond, he said.

Crime-ridden trains, dangerous minibus taxis and long-distance buses form the basis of South Africa's beleaguered transportation system.

FIFA, the world's governing soccer body, has said it has no concerns about South Africa's capability to finish its projects in time.

Radebe spoke to reporters during a government-organized tour of construction projects.

Danny Jordaan, the chief executive of the local World Cup organizing committee, was also on the tour and said FIFA had no concerns about the pace of transportation improvements, but was interested in consistent progress updates.

At one point during the tour, in which journalists donned neon construction vests and watched government officials pose in front of empty, muddy construction sites, a bus station construction manager said he was behind schedule because of a steel shortage.

Officials on the tour said they had no concerns that supply shortages or power outages would hinder progress. South Africa has had problems providing power in recent months.

Although some South Africans are concerned about the pace of construction, most are quietly confident that deadlines will be met.

"There's very little option here in terms of being able to get around," said Gary Ronald, spokesman for the South African Automobile Association.

"These guys have 18 months or so to do a lot of work. The time frame is very, very tight. It's not that evident that we will actually be ready, but I hope we will be." Ronald was not involved in Tuesday's tour.

As part of its transportation overhaul, the government will spend at least 16 billion rand (US$2.1 billion) to improve its passenger rail system, Radebe said. To increase safety in the rail cars, the government will place 5,000 police on trains by 2010.

The government also earmarked 7.7 billion rand (US$1 billion) to professionalize and re-equip its minibus taxi system, Radebe said.

Through a recapitalization program, he said, minibus taxi drivers will be trained and given safer buses.

The government has also spent 19 billion rand (US$2.5 billion) on airport renovation projects since last year. Radebe believes the city will need an additional 60 trains, 600 luxury intercity buses, and 10,000 minibuses to hold the estimated 350,000 visitors during the busiest days of the competition.

The vast transportation overhaul is necessary to address South Africa's "legacy of apartheid," Radebe said.

South Africa's apartheid government designed the transportation system with only white, affluent residents in mind, he said.

Efforts to improve the country's public transportation system is not only about World Cup preparation, but about finally providing safe, accessible transportation for the nation's poor.

"These changes would have happened, but they would have taken a long time," Radebe said.

"The World Cup helped focus the mind."

Sapa-AP