As Japan "struggles to get its Olympics plans on track," officials confirmed on Monday that construction of its new national stadium will start in '17, the "tail end of its previously stated time frame," according to Elaine Lies of REUTERS. The confirmation of the start date for building the centerpiece of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games "comes at a time when Japan has slid back into recession as its fragile economy struggles with declining capital expenditure and sluggish investments." The stadium, now estimated to cost 155B yen ($1.26B), "still has no design plan." A competition is to be held "for a new design with a decision due in December." Japan Sport Council VP Takakuni Ikeda said, "It's true that this is quite late compared to the original plan." He also noted that a new timetable had been released in August, "after the previous design was scrapped." The new stadium "will replace Tokyo's old structure" which was built to host the 1964 Summer Games. There was a "delay in demolition" of the old stadium as well (REUTERS, 11/16).
