"We present a piece of African pride to the Mayor of Johannesburg. We are ready for the World Cup and cannot wait for the games to begin so that we can showcase African ingenuity in design and our expertise in construction and engineering to the rest of the world," a beaming CEO of the Aveng building company told the press this week during the handover of the upgraded Soccer City Stadium to the city's mayor.

Dutch engineer Stan Aarts is proud too. For three years, he's worked as technical manager for the consortium which carried out the upgrading of Africa's largest football stadium.

"Aren't the orange seats beautiful?", he asks rhetorically as he prances over the field where the first World Cup match will be played in June as well as the final matches. Mr Aarts was employed by Interbeton, a subsidiary of the Royal BAM Group, which upgraded the stadium together with its South African partner. He supervised the construction of the stadium's new design for three years.

It includes a new façade around the stadium built in the shape of a calabash, an African pot. The building can accommodate some 94,000 fans. They will all sit in the orange seats. Mr Aarts laughs and says: "I think it (the colour) is meant for the Dutch team which will play here. However the explanation the architect gave was that it looked like an African sunset."

Historic value
Soccer City, which hosted major football events in South Africa for many years, was upgraded in order to comply with FIFA's requirements for hosting the 2010 World Cup. Mr Aarts says: "It would have been easy for the constructors to demolish the old stadium and build a new one. However this stadium has historic value which is why the city of Johannesburg wanted to keep it. For instance, this is the place where former president Nelson Mandela held a speech when he was released from prison."

It is also the place where South Africa won the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations. At the time the national team, which is nicknamed Bafana Bafana (the boys), gave a splendid performance. One they are hoping to repeat during this year's World Cup. The first match on 11 June will pit the South African national team against Mexico.

The stadium borders the city of Johannesburg and Soweto, a large township with millions of people. Soweto has been described as the heartland of South African football and has produced many of the country's best players. It is home to two popular Premier League clubs. Moreover, most of the men who built the stadium are from Soweto.

Course in bar bending
Mr Aarts estimates that at the peak of activity there were some 3,500 construction workers at the site. "Construction work here is not the same as in the Netherlands. The South African workers have less experience. Which means that you need more people to do the same job. However, we offered courses to a number of people in fields such as bar bending and welding.

Mr Aarts shows me the locker rooms with their Spartan design. One can still smell the fresh paint. He says: "You won't find any gold-plated shower knobs or anything of the sort here. The stadium also has to make sense economically when the World Cup is over. I hope I will still be here when the Netherlands plays. This stadium has cost me blood, sweat and tears and it would be a dream come true to be here when the Dutch team hopefully wins." The Netherlands will play against Denmark on 14 June in Soccer City.

Although the stadium has officially been handed over, parking garages, stairs and access roads are still under construction. Excavators and lorries drive back and forth. Mr Aarts still has another month until his job is finished. He says with pride: "This is the most beautiful project I've ever worked on. Whenever I stand here and think that it is almost finish I feel a great sense of relief."

Expensive price tag
During the handover of the stadium Johannesburg's mayor said that because the price of construction materials had risen the project had exceeded its original budget by 97 million euros. A total of 309 million euros has been poured into the project. Some fear that many of the stadiums will not be used that often following the World Cup. However the mayor agrees with the builders that Soccer City will improve Johannesburg's image. "Viva Soccer City! Viva!" he shouted excitedly during the handover of the stadium.