Three of South Africa’s new World Cup stadiums can be completed in three years, a timetable German architect Hubert Nienhoff says would have been unthinkable in Germany. Nienhoff helped design new stadiums in Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth. “The decision to begin construction now is actually too late for us Germans,” Nienhoff said, referencing the tangle of German rules that gives regulatory agencies and the public the right to inspect and challenge any significant projects. But development in South Africa is expected to cost about half what it did for Germany 2006. South Africa’s organizing committee expects total stadium costs to be about $858 million, compared to the $1.92 billion Germany spent to upgrade its stadiums. The new 85,0000-seat King’s Park Stadium in Durban is designed to withstand the strong winds along the Indian Ocean. Cape Town’s 70,000-capacity stadium will have a retractable roof and is already pegged to hold one of the semi-inals. Nelson Mandela Bay Arena in Port Elizabeth will be built near the North End Lake and will seat 40,000. The final is to be held in Johannesburg’s Soccer City, which is being extended to hold 104,000.