Budget For 2012 London Games Has Tripled In A Year To $17.4B

The British government said Thursday that the budget for the 2012 London Olympics “has tripled in a year” to more than $17.4B (all figures converted to U.S.), according to Matthew Beard of the London INDEPENDENT. British Minister for Culture, Media & Sport Tessa Jowell said that “most of the shortfall will be funded through a further [$1.3B] from the National Lottery,” upping its total contribution to $4.26B (London INDEPENDENT, 3/16). In London, Sherman & Goodbody report “thousands of community projects covering health, education, arts and sport face cuts or closures over the next five years” in order to fund the Olympics. Hugh Robertson, Olympics Shadow Minister for the minority Tory party, said, “In raiding the lottery to make up the shortfall, the Government will penalise the clubs and small organisations up and down the country that were supposed to benefit from the Olympics” (LONDON TIMES, 3/16). The FINANCIAL TIMES’ Jean Eaglesham notes the revised budget is “almost four times the original estimate” of $4.65B. But Jowell “shrugged off concerns that the budget increase was a harbinger of more cost rises to come, saying the announcement ‘means it’s full steam ahead for 2012’” (FT.com, 3/16).

VANOC: VANOC said that construction costs have “increased on eight of 11 projects, forcing it to take [C$11.5M] out of a [C$66.8M] contingency.” But VANOC said that it is “still on budget to finish building its venues for [C$580M], and may well finish under that.” VANOC Exec VP/Construction Dan Doyle said “he’s confident he can stay on budget” (VANCOUVER SUN, 3/16).