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The South African government has admitted that the original estimated costs of hosting the World Cup of 2010 may have been undervalued by up to 20%.

The original figure of 1.7 billion euros could in fact end up being closer to 2.05 billion in reality.

In news unlikely to surprise many, deputy finance minister Jabu Moleketi sighed, "Current projections suggest we might be facing an escalation of cost.

"We have dispatched all our technical teams to look into the projected escalation and put in extra capacity to interrogate on the spot the nature of the problem."

"The price structures are changing every day because of intense demand of the materials," he added, citing steel costs as a major factor in the recent problems.

Still, he insists that all stadia - some of which were thought to be running the risk of late completion - will be ready by 2010.

"The 2010 government World Cup unit is convinced that the implementation of all plans are still on target and within (our) timelines," he said.

"The preliminary draw in Durban will demonstrate our ability not only to host the tournament in 2010, but our organisational capacity to host such events.

"It will demonstrate that it is indeed Africa's time and the continent is ready."

Infrastructural problems are not merely an African issue. Major sporting events - such as the London Olympics - have recently been dogged by underestimation of costs before the tournament begins, or even before infrastructure is complete.

source:goal.com