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Tshwane (Pretoria) Mayor takes hands-on approach to 2010 Fifa World Cup projects
By Tony Mcgregor
Motorists in the Tshwane area, which incorporates Pretoria, have been inconvenienced now for many months due to the extensive up-grading of roads in preparation for the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup. Pretoria is a host city and extensive road works have been under way for more than a year. The Executive Mayor of Tshwane, Dr Gwen Ramakgopa, has recently been inspecting the roadworks and assessing progress. The famous Loftus Versfeld rugby stadium has been upgraded and refurbished to be the principle stadium for World Cup matches in Tshwane, while two other stadiums in the townships of Atteridgeville and Mamelodi respectively have been upgraded to Fifa standards as practice venues.
Mayor Ramokgopa has a city of 2.34 million people to oversee and is faced with many challenges, including falling revenues, due mainly to the world-wide recession, and the urgent work required to ready the city to play host to several World Cup matches in 2010. The upgrading of the roads, while in the first instance to meet 2010 World Cup requirements, are also part of the general improvement of infrastructure that has been on-going since 1996. The upgrading of roads in particular has been facilitated by a grant from the National Department of Transport of R23 million (about US$3 million).
Much of the upgrading of roads has been to facilitate access to Loftus Versfeld, but other roads are also being improved so that the whole road network in Tshwane
Mayor Ramokgopa is certain that all the work will be completed well before the kick-off date for the World Cup. Tshwane has the most foreign embassies of any city in the world except for Washington DC. It also has one of the longest straight urban streets in the world, Church Street, which is also the longest urban street in South Africa. Tshwane is the administrative capital of South Africa and is rich in culture and history. The seat of Government is the Union Buildings, which overlook the city. They were designed to house the administration of South Africa by famous architect Sir Herbert Baker after the four former British colonies of the Cape of Good Hope, the Orange Free State, the Transvaal and Natal united to form the Union of South Africa in 1910. The city has a number of tertiary institutions, including the University of South Africa, the University of Pretoria, and the Tshwane University of Technology, as well as important research institutions such as the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the Human Sciences Research Council. In the area of the city some six languages are spoken, but English is rapidly becoming the lingua franca and most residents can speak it. The city is linked to other major cities by the network of National Roads and by rail. It is also not far from the O.R. Tambo International Airport of Johannesburg.
In addition the Gautrain project, a rapid-transit rail system, is nearing completion and will soon link Tshwane to Johannesburg and O.R. Tambo airport. |
http://www.tshwane.gov.za/fifaworldcup/index.html
   
Mayor Gwen Ramokgopa inspecting road works (Photo from Eatern Rekord)
The Union Buildings
Zakumi, official mascot of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa
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