A sod-turning ceremony for the new Peter Mokaba sports complex, in Polokwane, is scheuduled to take place on Friday, city spokesperson Simon Mokoatedi said.

Earlier this month construction company Holmes-Ovcon (WHBO)/Paul joint venture (JV) won the R716,78-million tender to construct the for the 45 000-seater stadium for the 2010 soccer World Cup.

In a telephonic interview with Engineering News Online, Mokoatedi said that speakers at the sod-turning ceremony included, Fifa 2010 local organising committee Ceo Danny Jordaan, executive mayor Thabo Makulyane, 2010 director-general Joe Phaahla, and Limpopo premier Sello Moloto would be addressing tomorrow’s function.

“There is movement onsite – clearing has started and implements have been brought in,” Mokoatedi announced.

He added that the stadium ‘was definitely on schedule for completion by the end of 2008.”

Addressing the launch of the Gauteng 2010 soccer World Cup strategy on Thursday, Jordaan said that construction workers were already onsite at every single stadium.

He said that the promise of having workers with ‘picks and shovels’ on stadium site by the first quarter of this year had been fulfilled.

The Peter Mokaba complex is one of five new stadiums that will be built in preparation for the 2010 soccer World Cup, together with the King Senzangakhona stadium, in Durban, the Nelson Mandela stadium, in Port Elizabeth, the Mbombela stadium, in Nelspruit and the Green Point stadium, in Cape Town.

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