W. Cup hosts go ahead with stadium plans
W. Cup hosts go ahead with stadium plans
TOKYO (Reuters): Japan and South Korea, co-hosts of the 2002 World Cup, are pushing ahead with their plans to build new stadiums despite the economic crisis in Asia.
Officials say the problems facing their economies will not derail the preparations despite the feasibility check conducted by President Kim Dae-jung's Korean administration.
"We are aiming to complete construction of the stadiums by October 2001," said Lee Yun-je, an official of South Korea's organizing committee.
Each country has already identified 10 host venues.
Two stadiums, Yokohama and Osaka, have been completed in Japan, while those in three South Korean cities, Pusan, Taegu and Inchon, are now under construction.
"There is no sense of urgency yet since it would only take about 32 months to complete a stadium," said Lee.
South Korea's organizing committee has estimated it would cost 10 trillion won (US$7.8 billion) to build all the stadiums at the venues, which also include Chonju, Kwangju, Seoguipo on the southern island of Cheju-do, Seoul, Suwon, Taejon and Ulsan.
Seoguipo and Suwon currently face some difficulties in raising finance but the problems are expected to be resolved with support from their provincial governments.
The South Korean government will provide 30 percent of the costs of building each of the 10 stadiums.
As well as the two completed stadiums, Japan's host venues include Kobe, Ibaraki, Miyagi, Niigata, Oita, Saitama, Sapporo and Shizuoka.
"The cost has been included in the budgets of the local governments for the past three or four years so the plans will not be affected," Junji Ogura, general-secretary of the Japan Football Association (JFA), said in Paris last week.
The construction of nine of the stadiums will be completed by the spring of 2001 with the last one in the city of Kobe set to be finished by the autumn.
Hiroshi Uchijima, general-secretary of Japan's World Cup Organizing Committee (JAWOC) said the running costs of hosting the World Cup, which excludes building the stadiums, could be double the amount spent to stage France '98.
"Basically, the cost for Japan to host the event would be about the same as that for France. The same could be said for South Korea as well. In other words, the cost would be double the amount France had to shoulder."
"But in the run-up to the year 2002 we don't know how much extra cost we'll end up with. I believe the total cost could be 50 to 60 billion yen each," he said.
With 64 matches taking place in the 2002 finals each of the 20 stadiums selected by the two countries could be expected to host only three matches.
The opening game will be held in Seoul along with the third place play-off if FIFA does not scrap that match.
The World Cup final will be staged in Japan at either the newly constructed 70,000-seater Yokohama International Stadium or the 63,000-seater Saitama Prefectural Stadium.
A decision on which venue will host the final will be taken next year.