FIFA not concerned, yet

[daveza]

http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/business/2008/0801281046.asp?O=FPQQ




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By Damaria Senne
Posted: 28 January 2008


The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) is interested
in SA`s power problems and how they will be resolved.



However, it is not yet concerned about the potential impact the country`s power crisis could have on the 2010 World Cup Soccer tournament, as well as the related technology, says Local Organising Committee (LOC) spokesman Tim Modise. "FIFA is interested in the power cuts. Concerned? Not yet."




Modise says the LOC plans to meet with Eskom to discuss its strategy to deal with the power problems. This input will feed into the LOC`s own strategy to address the issue and ensure the games go as smoothly as possible, he says.


“Our approach is simple: our project is still going to happen. Like all other South Africans, we`re also waiting for Eskom [to inform us of its plans]. We don`t want to be worked up; speculate."


Modise also joins government in reassuring stakeholders in the 2010 tournament that the stadiums where the games will be held, as well as the transmission of the games, will not be affected by the power problems.


The stadiums and broadcast facilities were always going to be powered using generators, with Eskom serving as a secondary power source, he says. This is a standard guarantee that FIFA has with all host countries, he notes.


Budget worries?


Department of Communications spokesman Albi Modise adds that the power problems will also have no impact on the ICT planning and projected budget for the games, as well as the guarantees made to FIFA.


Government has yet to communicate its final ICT budget for the 2010 games. However, it was initially estimated to be about R5 billion.


On Friday, in a media briefing following an announcement that SA is facing unprecedented power cuts resulting in a national disaster, public enterprise minister Alec Erwin outlined medium-term plans that would ensure SA`s power problems do not impact the 2010 games.


“There is no threat to the successful holding of the event as plans to ensure electricity security in that period, specifically for the event, are well advanced,” Erwin said.


He urged South Africans to reduce their electricity consumption. Government is also rolling out solar-powered lights, an initiative which was piloted by Cape Town.


Medium-term interventions include the Electricity Regulation Act, which provides for penalties for users who exceed their quotas.


There will also be ongoing price increases, which Erwin says will reflect the real cost of producing electricity and curtail demand.


Still upbeat


Whiphold Treasury analyst Craig Zaiman says 2010 failure is not an option.


International investors see SA as a gateway into the African continent and its failure to successfully host the 2010 games will impact on the risk profile of the rest of the continent, he says.


However, Econometrix analyst Tony Twine argues that South Africans` reaction to the power problems is insular. This problem is not new to other countries, he says. The UK, Japan and the Philippines experienced power problems in their histories, and citizens and visitors coped just fine, he says.




The solution to managing the problem effectively lies in making sure citizens are aware of when power cuts will take place so they can plan around it, he says.


Eskom`s Web site, at this stage, is no help and the national power utility needs to communicate with citizens more clearly, he says.

[The Cosmos]

they should be.:eek:

[bekdik]

Spin. You don't expect them to be open, do you?

[ToxicBunny]

If Fifa aren't running around like headless chickens screaming about how fscked up things are....then Fifa are not very smart.

[Moederloos]

If Fifa aren't running around like headless chickens screaming about how fscked up things are....then Fifa are not very smart.

Europeans, like Blatter, are reserved.

You are thinking of Italians and other Mediterranean ones, :D

[Scooby_Doo]

Well i don't see a problem with respect to power if everything was going to be on gennies anyway wether we have power problems or not. So yay for us :P

[bekdik]

Well i don't see a problem with respect to power if everything was going to be on gennies anyway wether we have power problems or not. So yay for us :P

There are issues other than stadiums.

Like
traffic snarlup
no hot food at B&B
no hot water at B&B

How many latterly set up B&B's do you expect to have genny installed. I suspect than in most cases they are going to struggle to repay their bond for the conversion of their houses

[Moederloos]

There are issues other than stadiums.

Like
traffic snarlup
no hot food at B&B
no hot water at B&B

How many latterly set up B&B's do you expect to have genny installed. I suspect than in most cases they are going to struggle to repay their bond for the conversion of their houses

People forget the biggies.
No Water
No Sewage
No Transport
No Fuel
Crime bred from desperation due to No Jobs.

Not to say all that will happen - but FIFA has got to be thinking along those lines.

[bekdik]

People forget the biggies.


Not to say all that will happen - but FIFA has got to be thinking along those lines.

Hopefully. Blatter doesn't seem the type who will accept other peoples assurances without having his own information sources.

[capetownguy]

FIFA aren't concerned because we have signed guarantees to provide not 1 but 2 back up generators for each stadium and stadium precinct.

There are tons of guarantees which the LOC signed and FIFA have years of experience of getting their way.

[Syndyre]

Well i don't see a problem with respect to power if everything was going to be on gennies anyway wether we have power problems or not. So yay for us :P


FIFA aren't concerned because we have signed guarantees to provide not 1 but 2 back up generators for each stadium and stadium precinct.

There are tons of guarantees which the LOC signed and FIFA have years of experience of getting their way.

Yes they'll have generators for the stadiums but people will spend maybe 1% of their time here in the stadia, what about the other 99%?



However, Econometrix analyst Tony Twine argues that South Africans' reaction to the power problems is insular. This problem is not new to other countries, he says. The UK, Japan and the Philippines experienced power problems in their histories, and citizens and visitors coped just fine, he says.

The solution to managing the problem effectively lies in making sure citizens are aware of when power cuts will take place so they can plan around it, he says.

Don't agree with this statement though, its a major problem, we don't need spin to minimise it.

[kingmonty]

FIFA aren't concerned because we have signed guarantees to provide not 1 but 2 back up generators for each stadium and stadium precinct.

There are tons of guarantees which the LOC signed and FIFA have years of experience of getting their way.Yep. I'm pretty sure Telkom and Eskom offered guarantees as well. Fact is that FIFA should be (and behind closed doors probably are) concerned. The LOC would do anything for money - have a look at who is sitting on the board - no poor little ANC members, no, the filthy rich ANC members are sitting on that board. This power crisis may well throw this country into total economical freefall, which ultimately means we can probably not afford the world cup anyway. FIFA should do the honourable thing and slate the government for failing the way they have, instead of practicing "quiet diplomacy".

[Ricard]

Alec Irwin guarantees the power.. so its OK. He is a man of his word

:D

[Ricard]

FIFA aren't concerned because we have signed guarantees to provide not 1 but 2 back up generators for each stadium and stadium precinct.

There are tons of guarantees which the LOC signed and FIFA have years of experience of getting their way.

I am sorry..... but is the Whacky-Backy getting too strong!

The visitors dont live IN the stadiums! How are 2 standby generators going to help the hotels?

I admire your patriotism.... but sometimes you cant see the wood for the trees. CapeTown is not the centre of the universe... its 1/5th of the WC2010 package (sorry to say, CT is the least of the problems)

[capetownguy]

I am sorry..... but is the Whacky-Backy getting too strong!

The visitors dont live IN the stadiums! How are 2 standby generators going to help the hotels?

I admire your patriotism.... but sometimes you cant see the wood for the trees.

Again, my point was not that only stadia are of concern. But to be honest, FIFA really do only care about their guarantees, even if the rest of the country is falling apart. This is exactly why there are so many guarantees a host country needs to sign. 2 back up generators to one stadium and precinct is just 1 of many guarantees the LOC signed with FIFA and if FIFA want no black outs in the host city during the match, then all non-host cities will have black outs during matches. How the LOC or e.g. ESKOM meets those guarantees is another story.

It has nothing do with patriotism.

[capetownguy]

I am sorry..... but is the Whacky-Backy getting too strong!

The visitors dont live IN the stadiums! How are 2 standby generators going to help the hotels?

I admire your patriotism.... but sometimes you cant see the wood for the trees. CapeTown is not the centre of the universe... its 1/5th of the WC2010 package (sorry to say, CT is the least of the problems)

I just saw your edited version. Sure, Cape Town is not the centre of the earth, but since I have mainly see plans and information relating to Cape Town's 2010 plan I can only refer to it. I can't make sweeping statements about Rustenburg or Nelspruit if I don't have the information to back it up.

Although I could get a few Durban forumers over here to fill people in about the progress taking place there pre 2010.

[Ricard]

Again, my point was not that only stadia are of concern. But to be honest, FIFA really do only care about their guarantees, even if the rest of the country is falling apart. This is exactly why there are so many guarantees a host country needs to sign. 2 back up generators to one stadium and precinct is just 1 of many guarantees the LOC signed with FIFA and if FIFA want no black outs in the host city during the match, then all non-host cities will have black outs during matches. How the LOC or e.g. ESKOM meets those guarantees is another story.

It has nothing do with patriotism.

So.. in essence, you are saying - Screw the residents of Jozi if there is a match going on in Cape Town :D You dont care about the power in other cities, as-long as the match has got lighting and power....

Am I reading your comments correctly?

[kingmonty]

Again, my point was not that only stadia are of concern. But to be honest, FIFA really do only care about their guarantees, even if the rest of the country is falling apart. This is exactly why there are so many guarantees a host country needs to sign. 2 back up generators to one stadium and precinct is just 1 of many guarantees the LOC signed with FIFA and if FIFA want no black outs in the host city during the match, then all non-host cities will have black outs during matches. How the LOC or e.g. ESKOM meets those guarantees is another story.

It has nothing do with patriotism.You just don't get it... if the rest of the country falls apart (i.e. lands up in an economic crisis), who the **** will care about the world cup? If people are told the stadiums have power while they do not, how happy you think they're gonna be? This event is a giant ****ing waste of money. The money they're spending on this event could easily have solved our power problems. But hey, blinkered views are cool too.

[Syndyre]

Again, my point was not that only stadia are of concern. But to be honest, FIFA really do only care about their guarantees, even if the rest of the country is falling apart. This is exactly why there are so many guarantees a host country needs to sign. 2 back up generators to one stadium and precinct is just 1 of many guarantees the LOC signed with FIFA and if FIFA want no black outs in the host city during the match, then all non-host cities will have black outs during matches. How the LOC or e.g. ESKOM meets those guarantees is another story.

It has nothing do with patriotism.

FIFA might only care about those, but they'll also start to care when attendance plummets because nobody wants to come to a country with crumbling infrastructure. Or when construction falls behind because of load shedding.

[capetownguy]

So.. in essence, you are saying - Screw the residents of Jozi if there is a match going on in Cape Town :D You dont care about the power in other cities, as-long as the match has got lighting and power....

Am I reading your comments correctly?

My comment was just one suggestion of a possible scenario that might become a reality IF one of the FIFA requirements is for all host cities to have power during matches in any other city. So e.g. to ease the load, many smaller towns/ non-host cities might have black outs if Eskom can meet FIFA guarantees any other way.

[kingmonty]

My comment was just one suggestion of a possible scenario that might become a reality IF one of the FIFA requirements is for all host cities to have power during matches in any other city. So e.g. to ease the load, many smaller towns/ non-host cities might have black outs if Eskom can meet FIFA guarantees any other way.
Please explain this to me because clearly I lack the intellectual power of an average pro FIFA fanboi. How is that good for the country? Is this event so important to South Africa and it's economy that shutting down power to potentially farms and mines is warranted? No, it's not. Being a little FIFA whore is only going to enrich a few puddles at the top of the urinal. South Africa should just tell FIFA, "hey, we are in **** here, let's look at an alternative plan for now."

[Ricard]

My comment was just one suggestion of a possible scenario that might become a reality IF one of the FIFA requirements is for all host cities to have power during matches in any other city. So e.g. to ease the load, many smaller towns/ non-host cities might have black outs if Eskom can meet FIFA guarantees any other way.

So I did interpret your comment correctly... you dont care if its not WC2010 related.

[capetownguy]

You just don't get it... if the rest of the country falls apart (i.e. lands up in an economic crisis), who the **** will care about the world cup? If people are told the stadiums have power while they do not, how happy you think they're gonna be? This event is a giant ****ing waste of money. The money they're spending on this event could easily have solved our power problems. But hey, blinkered views are cool too.

I don't think its a waste of money. We don't have power not because of a lack of money but because of a complacent(understatement) government who failed to respond to warning signs they received back in 1997, which If I'm correct said ...in 2007 there will be a power crisis! The blinkered view is believing that money spent on this event which was only awarded in 2004, long after the 1997 warning signs from governtment reports about the future power crisis, somehow affected Eskom's/governents capital/funds to the extent that it cause the power crisis we experience today.

The same argument applies to housing. Its the "common view" that money on stadia should be spent on houses. Money spent on the event doesn't mean that fewer houses for the poor gets built. Not enough houses are being built due to inability to deliver homes and the consistent underspending budgets by variou spheres of goverment, not because of a lack of money. Throwing billions of rands at housing won't result in more houses.

Perhaps 2010, is providing the urgency to face the huge gvt and Eskom f@#$ up sooner rather than later. Read my signature...its easy to blame 2010 for everything.

[capetownguy]

So I did interpret your comment correctly... you dont care if its not WC2010 related.

My suggestion is NOT good for the country at all. In fact it should never ever happen. The WC 2010 is not the be all and end all for south africa and screw the rest. BUT if the LOC can't meet FIFA guarantees who knows to what ends they will go to satisfy FIFA. My suggestion is not a solution to catering for the electricity needs for 2010, and neither am I pro FIFA.

FIFA get what they want regardless of the impact on the host country, and I'm certainly not for that. Definitely not going to support to collapse of the rest of the country while FIFA's host cities enjoy power on match days.

[kingmonty]

I don't think its a waste of money. We don't have power not because of a lack of money but because of a complacent(understatement) government who failed to respond to warning signs they received back in 1997, which If I'm correct said ...in 2007 there will be a power crisis! The blinkered view is believing that money spent on this event which was only awarded in 2004, long after the 1997 warning signs from governtment reports about the future power crisis, somehow affected Eskom's/governents capital/funds to the extent that it cause the power crisis we experience today.

The same argument applies to housing. Its the "common view" that money on stadia should be spent on houses. Money spent on the event doesn't mean that fewer houses for the poor gets built. Not enough houses are being built due to inability to deliver homes and the consistent underspending budgets by variou spheres of goverment, not because of a lack of money. Throwing billions of rands at housing won't result in more houses.

Perhaps 2010, is providing the urgency to face the huge gvt and Eskom f@#$ up sooner rather than later. Read my signature...its easy to blame 2010 for everything.
I'm afraid your very wrong in your various assumptions. The fact is that surplus funding was allocated to the world cup and the various structures surrounding the world cup. In fact, policing is to be increased for the event only at a cost of mere billions. The housing budget pales into comparison of the budget allocated to the world cup stadiums and the sub projects around the world cup. The World Cup and the Gautrain jointly enjoy the biggest budget cut in the country - for 2 years running now.

You cannot with a straight face claim that this event is honestly worth the money being spent on it when the country has a quarter of its employable work force unemployed. The fact is infrastructure collapse is imminent not only due to money shortfalls in budgets, but also due to factors such as shortages of cement (because all the cement in the country is prioritised for stadiums and gautrain).

We are in the midst of an economic crisis but strangely the only thing on anyone's mind is how to keep FIFA happy. **** FIFA. The world cup makes them billions - that's the only damn reason they do it. Every single thing they do is aimed at making them money, so as far as I'm concerned, the guarantees anyone offers should be to the South African citizen first, and to FIFA a distant second.

[kingmonty]

Perhaps 2010, is providing the urgency to face the huge gvt and Eskom f@#$ up sooner rather than later. Read my signature...its easy to blame 2010 for everything.

You still don't get it. The government is not being kickstarted into urgency. Besides, the government is not even directly doing anything for the world cup except splashing out all the money they can lay their hands on for it.

[capetownguy]

I'm afraid your very wrong in your various assumptions. The fact is that surplus funding was allocated to the world cup and the various structures surrounding the world cup. In fact, policing is to be increased for the event only at a cost of mere billions. The housing budget pales into comparison of the budget allocated to the world cup stadiums and the sub projects around the world cup. The World Cup and the Gautrain jointly enjoy the biggest budget cut in the country - for 2 years running now.

You cannot with a straight face claim that this event is honestly worth the money being spent on it when the country has a quarter of its employable work force unemployed. The fact is infrastructure collapse is imminent not only due to money shortfalls in budgets, but also due to factors such as shortages of cement (because all the cement in the country is prioritised for stadiums and gautrain).

We are in the midst of an economic crisis but strangely the only thing on anyone's mind is how to keep FIFA happy. **** FIFA. The world cup makes them billions - that's the only damn reason they do it. Every single thing they do is aimed at making them money, so as far as I'm concerned, the guarantees anyone offers should be to the South African citizen first, and to FIFA a distant second.

I do believe that event is worth the money being spent not only on stadia but on all the infrastructure that has become a priority due to 2010, which simply put would not have happened in the next 5 or even 10 years without 2010.

Again an example in Cape Town. Transport projects in the pipeline for 10-20 years are now, under the urgency of 2010 becoming a reality over the next few years. I believe the changes and improvements to all host cities exceed the negatives, with spending on stadia just a fraction on all goverment spending pre 2010.

I agree with your comment relating to FIFA, but we've always known that.

[kingmonty]

Once again Cape Town is a minority in the bigger scheme of things. In Joburg the only new development is Gautrain, which is not going to be ready for the World cup anyway.

Transport infrastructure in Joburg is already in big trouble, and the future plans to be brought in will likely cause major economical problems in itself.

The facts are these:
1. Stadiums will not uplift people.
2. The infrastructure development taking place is very world cup centric - the new buses and so forth in the Cape Town city will likely not contribute much to the future of the Western Cape's transport system
3. Housing now stands still thanks to a shortage of cement and electricity. New housing developments may very well have been in the pipeline were it not for the world cup, as it is a majorly sensitive area with the ruling party's voters.
4. A 30 day long sports event will probably not even recover the losses the economy experienced over the last three days thanks to the power shortages.
5. No new hospitals are being built right now, as all major construction is centered on getting the country ready for 2010. There was even a planned hospital who lost it's funding to the world cup.
6. We won't recoup the expenses we're forking out for this event.
7. The minority of this country is paying for this event - the people who pay tax. We won't see any return on our investment.

What a giant waste of money. Shameful.