Johannesburg - Soccer City, built to resemble a calabash, in Johannesburg was on Wednesday officially handed over to the City of Johannesburg.The completed stadium which was handed to City of Johannesburg Mayor Amos Masondo is the largest in Africa, said infrastructure organisation, the Aveng Group and its subsidiary Grinaker-LTA."Like an African calabash that securely stores food and drink, this calabash-inspired stadium will securely hold almost 90 000 fans who will witness the opening game of the 2010 FIFA World Cup," said Aveng Group chief executive, Roger Jardine."I have no doubt that we will host a world class event."The stadium took 10 million hours to construct and it was built on the grounds where Bafana Bafana qualified to take part in their first ever World Cup.It was also the site of a mass rally held to celebrate former president Nelson Mandela's release from prison in 1990.The stadium has 87 000 seats with its design ensuring that no spectator is over 105 meters away from the pitch.It has 193 suites, roughly 2 700 seats dedicated to the media, 860 parking bays and 77 concession kiosks.The stadium's construction required 90 000m of concrete, roughly 12 000 tons of reinforcement steel, nine million bricks and 13 000 tons of structural steel.
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