The South African government announced Wednesday that the cost of staging the World Cup will rise by a further 2 billion rand ($258 million). The overall projected costs will rise from 9.6 billion rand (just below $1.25 billion) to 11.6 billion (around $1.5 billion).
Deputy Finance Minister Jabu Moleketi said the figure covered “all infrastructure” associated with the competition, including stadium construction, transport, communications and security. “The overruns are caused by cost creep, input cost escalation and foreign-exchange deviations,” he said, resulting from increases in the cost of imported equipment, steel prices, oil prices, the exchange rate, and unspecified “complexities” in the design of some of the stadiums.
The government is talking to the cities about who will share the burden of the extra cost, and to the Development Bank of SA about a package that would allow the host cities to meet this new “financial obligation,” Moleketi said. The national budget would also take on a share of the costs.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s Deputy National Commissioner Andre Pruis has scoffed at the idea of incoming hooligans upsetting the World Cup, and said that the troublemakers he saw at the last World Cup in Germany were unimpressive. “If they want to come they are welcome,” said Pruis, because his officers were keen to test their new body armor.