A FIFA delegation has visited Cape Town to monitor progress in the construction of the Green Point stadium and get an update on the city’s operational plans for hosting the tournament. The visit was part of a three-day inspection tour of South Africa.

The delegation was made up of mostly technical and operational officials, the Local Organising Committee (LOC) and other interested parties, such as Sentech, Telkom and the SABC. FIFA Media Operations Manager Alain Leiblang told a press conference that FIFA was “satisfied with the progress that has been shown”.

“All things are on track, and we like the reaction of the LOC and the host cities,” he said. “There are no shortcomings.” Leiblang said the visit was arranged to meet the architects and organisers that FIFA operations officials were dealing with, and look into discrepancies between the FIFA requirements and the design of the stadium, and fine-tune the details.

“We need to find a balance between what we need and what will stay after the World Cup.”The one-week strike by construction workers at the Green Point stadium site was not a concern to FIFA, and building remains on schedule. Leiblang said he had seen “much worse”, when a general strike crippled France in the run-up to the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

LOC Chief Competitions Officer Dennis Mumble said the inspection visits were important. “The World Cup takes place in living, breathing spaces and we can’t tell just by looking at a piece of paper.” Leiblang also said the plan for the Green Point Common, including the new stadium, sports clubs and golf course, and with views of the Waterfront and Table Mountain, “looks great” and will be a feature for the city.

The delegates visited the stadium construction site before a detailed presentation by City of Cape Town officials as well as the architects of the stadium, on the planning for the event. The presentation looked at issues such as the historical aspects of the site which need to be retained; the three security zones around the stadium site; the final stadium design, transport and safety and security.

A detailed architectural presentation was also given, looking at the plans for parking, concourse, roof design, pitch specifications, change rooms, hospitality suites, and seating. The questions of what exactly FIFA’s requirements are, and what exactly must be delivered by what timeframes, were also dealt with.Issues such as progress with plans for telecommunications, information technology, media, marketing, hospitality and security were also examined.

Dave Hugo, director, Service Delivery Integration, said Cape Town must “host the best semi-final ever” and said the plan was to turn the city into the “party capital” for 2010.The FIFA delegation also visited Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and Durban as part of their three-day inspection tour. Visits will be made twice a year to inspect progress and gain a better understanding of the country’s preparedness to host the 2010 event.

LOC Chief Executive Danny Jordaan said the inspection tour was “an important component of the state of readiness programme”. He said a lot of progress had been made since the previous tour, including stadium construction, transport and airport expansion, and preparations for the Preliminary Draw in November. “We are confident they will find the project well on track,” he said.