Power cuts call for united front
Craig Urquhart
25 January 2008Just when the sound of bulldozers and tunnel-boring equipment was beginning to drown out the whining about the state of South Africa's preparations for hosting the 2010 Fifa World Cup, along came a wave of power cuts.
It's no secret, or surprise, that people are angry and worried. And, invariably, it has cast a pall on the country's World Cup preparations. The nationwide power cuts, which are costing the country billions of rands in lost revenue, are also threatening to delay a key 2010 construction project.
Hopes that a section of the Gautrain rapid rail link, linking OR Tambo International Airport to Sandton, will be ready in time, have been dented. Bombela, the construction consortium appointed to build the rapid rail link, is considering using generators because the R230-million tunnel-boring machine needs a constant supply of
electricity.
South Africans are as good as the next bunch at pointing fingers, and there's been no shortage of the "blame game" these past few weeks.
The old rumours that the country will lose the rights to host the 2010 tournament are doing the rounds again, but veteran stockbroker David Shapiro dismisses this. Shapiro manages the Sasfin Twenty Ten Fund, which invests in companies that benefit from spending on infrastructure and social projects.
Nevertheless, Shapiro is alarmed at the mixed signals that are being sent out. He singles out Eskom for reportedly saying that South Africa should be closed for large new industrial projects until at least 2013, when the electricity supply is expected to have been sorted out.
To their credit, both Fifa and the 2010 Local Organising Committee are speaking with one voice on the issue, and their message is clear - the 2010 Fifa World Cup South Africa will go ahead as planned.
We cannot, for one moment, deviate from this theme. South Africa has power problems - and other significant challenges - to overcome ahead of 2010, but so too has the host of every major sporting tournament. Just ask Athens.
Urquhart is a former Fifa World Cup media officer and the current editor of Project 2010
