Two numbers in the news today:
(1) South Africa has announced a $17.5 billion investment (R170 billion) in transportation for the 2010 World Cup.
(2) South Africa is expecting around 450,000 visitors for the same World Cup.
If these numbers are correct, South Africa is planning to spend nearly 40,000 US dollars on transportation for every person who visits the country during the tournament. I hope the improvements will be useful after it ends. . .
Read More: World Cup
by Brian Phillips · November 26, 2008
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That’s pretty funny, but you figure they probably don’t have proper roads etc etc the #’s may not be too far off.
That’s my thought exactly. I’m just hoping that the improvements fall into the category of “a new road that regular South Africans could actually use” rather than “a new train line connecting a complex of luxury tourist hotels to a remote stadium that no one will have a reason to go to after the World Cup.” It’s probably a mix of the two.
Hopefully it turns out to benefit South Africa and it is a safe and successful World Cup as well.
What is going to happen to all the inforstructure after the WC
Bigdoos, since the news of the deal first broke it’s become clear that the government intends to package it as part of an overall effort to use the World Cup to renew tourism in the country.
So while they’re saying that most of the new transport will be useful to people in the country after the tournament, they’re also emphasizing that it will be useful to tourists in the country after the tournament.
I haven’t seen any clear plans but the impression I have is closer to the trains-to-resorts idea than to the public-transport-for-everyone idea. We’ll see.