"It's complete nonsense, the World Cup was not won on the back of the Gautrain proposal," Danny Jordaan, who heads the organising committee, told Reuters on Friday.

South Africa will become the first African nation to host the world's premier sporting tournament but concerns have been raised in the media over the timetable to construct a 20 billion rand ($3.02 billion) high speed train line project linking Johannesburg, its airport and the capital Pretoria.

The train, named "Gautrain" after the Gauteng province in which it will run, is a part of ambitious plans to upgrade public transport ahead of the event.

Jack van der Merwe, the chief executive officer of the project, was quoted as saying progress on Gautrain would form an important element of FIFA's evaluation in 2008 of preparations for the event.

"The train project was part of the bid. It will be part of the evaluation," SAPA news agency reported him as saying, adding that if South Africa was judged not to be ready, the Word Cup could revert back to 2006 host Germany.

Construction of the 80 km (50 mile) line is due to begin in January next year and is expected to be complete in 2010, leaving little room for delays before the tournament begins later that year.

The train will carry soccer fans between Johannesburg and Pretoria at speeds of between 165 km and 180 km per hour.

Jordaan said the FIFA inspection team in its visits to the country had not been concerned about the project and had not even asked to meet with the Gautrain team.

"We have a transport plan and ... that plan has nothing to do with the Gautrain project," he said.

While important for the tournament, the project is seen as part of a wider plan to improve South Africa's public transport system and will serve as an alternative to the congested highway linking the two main cities once the World Cup is over.

It is estimated the train project will create 148,000 jobs -- a much-needed boost in a country with an official unemployment rate of 26.5 percent.

Source: Reuters