By Lucky Sindane
Set to become a prominent landmark, the South African Football Association's brand new headquarters at Soccer City is on track to be completed by the scheduled date of October.
The new R60 million state-of-the-art headquarters of the South African Football Association (Safa) will be completed and in full operation by the end of October 2006, according to Federation of International Football Associations (Fifa).
This comes just after 11 months after Fifa president Sepp Blatter and President Thabo Mbeki turned the first sod for the new Safa headquarters at Soccer City, Nasrec, south of Johannesburg.
The building, with its distinctive football-shaped dome, will be the headquarters of Fifa and the Local Organising Committee during the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
The building's architect, Bob van Bebber, says he drew his inspiration from the world-class design from Fifa's new home in Zurich, Switzerland.
"The idea for the circular walkways that go around the inside of the barrelled entrance hall came from the home of Fifa and will be used to accommodate displays similar to those that we saw in Zurich."
The complex, which will be located on the eastern side of Soccer City, will be the headquarters of Safa and the Premier Soccer League. It will also host the Safa Academy, an elite training facility to groom referees, coaches and administrators.
About 100 offices in the facility will be available for Fifa and the Local Organising Committee for the 2010 event. The building will be dominated by a football-shaped domed roof that will be clearly visible from the air and looks set to become a new city landmark.
"The building will certainly be finished on 31 October and keys will be handed over at 11 o'clock on that date," says project manager, Hilton Sparks.
"Most of the internal work such as wiring and the installation of air-conditioning were sub-contracted to black economic empowerment companies to address the previous disparities within the South African economy," says the Fifa website.
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