The price tag of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics could exceed 3T yen ($30B) "unless drastic cost-cutting measures are taken and several key venues are relocated, an expert panel warned Thursday in the latest blow to Japanese organizer," according to Mari Yamaguchi of the AP. Panel Leader Shinichi Ueyama said, "Naturally, anyone who hears these numbers is alarmed." The Olympic investigation team was launched by newly elected Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike after she "raised concerns about growing cost estimates and the potential burden on the city and its taxpayers." The report reviewed three out of seven permanent venues that Tokyo is planning to build, and "proposed using existing locations rather than new facilities that could end up being white elephants." Koike said that "she plans to discuss possible options with IOC officials." She said, "We cannot impose the negative legacy onto the Tokyo residents." Concerns over Tokyo's budget come amid "growing global scrutiny over the costs of hosting the Olympics." Many cities have been "scared off" by the record $51B in overall costs associated with the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. The estimated 3T yen cost of the Tokyo Games is "more than a four-fold increase from the initial estimate at the time of the city's 's successful bid" for the Games in '13. Tokyo Organizing Committee President Yoshiro Mori acknowledged in July '15 that the total cost could exceed 2T yen ($20B), "doubling his unofficial estimate a year earlier." On Thursday, Mori criticized the panel's proposals for venue moves, saying "it would be difficult to change the existing plans approved by the IOC." He said, "At this point, it would be extremely difficult to turn everything upside down from the Japanese side." The panel's report said that venue costs "had been driven up by overestimated stadium capacities, use of unnecessarily high-grade equipment and lack of a budget ceiling" (AP, 9/29).
