Timeline Laid Out For New Tokyo Olympic Stadium; Construction To Begin Early Next Year

Japan PM Shinzo Abe's government "set out Tuesday how it will tackle building the new National Stadium after scrapping plans widely derided as extravagant and costly," according to KYODO. Japan Education & Sports Minister Hakubun Shimomura said that construction "will start on the new centerpiece for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in January or February." Officials "will first draft a plan that lists the functions the building will need." This document, "which will include possible costs, will be complete by the fall and then put to tender." Shimomura said that the design and builder will be chosen in an int'l competition "with the aim of completing the stadium by spring 2020." He "also told a news conference that he is considering setting up a third-party panel" to look into how the construction costs of the scrapped stadium plan swelled to 252B yen ($2B) from 130B yen ($1B) (KYODO, 7/21).