The visiting president of South Africa's 2010 World Cup Organizing Committee, Danny Jordan, told Tuesday's Lance, a Brazilian sports paper, that his country would offer the public and players first-world facilities.

The event implies major improvements in infrastructure, especially paving roads, telecommunications, increasing airport capacity and the building and improvement of hotels, Jordan said.

"It is an opportunity to have first world facilities, with the best infrastructure, not just improve sport and stadia," he said.

Despite reports of delaying in stadium and infrastructure construction, the organizers are not worried, because the government has freed the resources needed to complete the work, he said.

"The government has recently made available some two billion euros (US$2.6 billion) for the work. With this we will build five new stadiums, refurbish four more and expand another," he said.

Five of the stadiums will be ready for the Confederations Cup in mid-2009, he said, describing the Cup as an opportunity for the whole continent, not just South Africa, to develop.

"We are working alongside the International Federation of Football Associations so that we can be sure that this will not be just an event in Africa, but instead an Africa-wide event. That is why we will show the world how we can work together for improved infrastructure and for better living conditions," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 27, 2006)