The "demolition of Japan's National Stadium to clear the way for a new structure" to host the 2020 Summer Olympics has been "further delayed in order to hold another round of bidding for the project, officials said on Monday," according to Elaine Lies of REUTERS. The move was "suggested by a government panel following a complaint of irregularities in an earlier bid round this summer, and looks set to delay demolition of the stadium until at least the middle of December," five months later than planned. A Japan Sport Council official said, "There was a complaint about the process and it was recommended to us that we hold another round of bidding." The JSC owns and runs the stadium "originally built when Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics." The first round of bids to "demolish the stadium failed because all the bids were too high, the JSC said, and a second round was held at the start of the summer." A Tokyo construction company "subsequently filed a complaint with the Government Procurement Review Board, a branch of the Cabinet Office, about the results." The Government Procurement Review Board said
there was "no proof of misdoing, but there appeared to be some problems
with fairness and called for another round of bidding" (REUTERS, 10/6).
