Members of Parliament will next week visit all the 2010 FIFA World Cup host cities to get first hand information on the preparations for the event.
The visit, which begins on Tuesday until Saturday, follows an establishment of a joint committee that will assess the country's readiness for the world's greatest showpiece in the African continent.
The members of the joint committee are drawn from eight National Assembly committees (namely Portfolio Committee on Transport, Portfolio Committee on Sport and Recreation, Portfolio Committee on Police, Portfolio Committee on Health, Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises, Portfolio Committee on Tourism, Portfolio Committee on Energy, and Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs), with each availing five members. They are also joined by five members of the National Council of Provinces' (NCOP) select committees.
The committee has been divided into two delegations. One delegation will focus on the inland host cities and another on the coastal ones. Once these delegations are in the host cities, they will break into smaller groups that will focus on aspects that include road construction, stadia and fan parks, clinics and hospitals, tourism and hotels.
On the first day of the visit, all the members will be at the OR Tambo Airport to, among others, assess issues like storage capacity of jet fuel, immigration and luggage management, emergency response services and security.
On road construction, members will look at projects such as Gautrain, Bust Rapid Transit (BRT) system, and roads to the stadia. They will also meet with the taxi industry associations. And on tourism and hotels, they will examine such aspects as Fan Parks, tourism information offices, small business support and hospitality associations.
This process will culminate in a two days public hearing to be held in Parliament. The hearings will assess the 10 FIFA guarantees and any other matters of interest relating to the event.
For enquiries contact:
Modise Kabeli
Tel: 021 403 3403
Cell: 082 077 4682
E-mail: mkabeli@parliament.gov.za
Lokile Molefe
Tel: 021 403 8307
Cell: 072 296 4336
E-mail: lmolefe@parliament.gov.za
Issued by: Parliament of South Africa
31 March 2010
Source: Parliament of South Africa (http://www.parliament.gov.za/)
