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Oil Fifa ticks shortage of accommodation off the problem list
December 03, 2009 Edition 2
Football fans who are planning on travelling to the World Cup in South Africa no longer need to worry about finding a bed.
Fifa has deleted accommodation from the to-do list of issues to resolve before the tournament.
"We are fine. It's not any more on the list as an issue," Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke said in surprise remarks in Cape Town yesterday after a meeting of the World Cup organising committee.
In June, Fifa identified accommodation, together with transport, as two areas that South Africa needed to address before hundreds of thousands of football fans descended on the country for the June 11-July 11 tournament.
Until now, Fifa's official accommodation agency Match has struggled to contract the 55 000 rooms needed for the teams, Fifa officials and package-holders.
Match, which was accused by smaller hotels and B+Bs of bullying on pricing, was forced to sign up non-graded accommodation to cover its shortfall.
Transport issues were also being addressed. Fifa was renting passenger planes to transport fans between matches in the nine host cities, he said.
Fifa was also arranging travel plans for fans from the five other African countries playing in the World Cup. - Sapa-dpa
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