The new stadiums South Africa is building for the 2010 Soccer World Cup and associated infrastructure will cost an estimated R2-billion more than planned, government said on Wednesday.

This means the amount of R9.6-billion allocated for the event in this year's budget will now rise to R11.6-billion, government 2010 World Cup spokesperson Tiyani Rikhotso told Sapa.

The R2-billion over-run, announced by Deputy Finance Minister Jabu Moleketi at a media briefing in Pretoria earlier in the day, included "all infrastructure associated with the 2010 Soccer World Cup", Rikhotso said.

It included the stadiums as well as transport, communications, security and all other infrastructure.

Cost would have to be borne by host cities

"The over-runs are caused by cost creep, input cost escalation and foreign exchange deviations," Rikhotso said.

Earlier, Moleketi told journalists the extra cost would have to be borne by the host cities and the national fiscus.

"A number of stadiums are reflecting there are going to be some (cost) over-runs," he said.

The over-runs were the result of increases in the cost of imported equipment, increased steel prices, the high international oil price, the exchange rate and "complexities" in the design of some of the stadiums.

Government was discussing the over-runs with the host cities. "We are talking... (about) their capacity to generate loans."

It was also talking to the Development Bank of SA about a package that would allow the host cities to meet this new "financial obligation", he said.

Involve institutions as the DBSA

"National fiscus will have to make a contribution; host cities will have to make a contribution; and we have to involve institutions such as the DBSA."

The host cities would have to assume an "equitable" portion of the increased costs, Moleketi said, but did not spell out how much individual cities would have to contribute. He also did not say which stadiums were involved in the cost over-runs.

In some cases, there had been "designs and complexities" at certain stadiums that had contributed to this.

According to documents distributed at the briefing, six of the stadiums under construction – in Johannesburg, Durban, Polokwane, Nelspruit, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town – are on track for completion ahead of the FIFA final inspection in December next year.

The 2010 World Cup is set to kick off in June of that year.

Sapa