Tokyo "slashed its budget" for the 2020 Olympics by an additional $360M, an official said on Tuesday, "amid mounting pressure" to reduce the cost of hosting the huge sports event, according to the AFP. Olympic planning officials have made the cuts by "changing construction methods and installing cheaper temporary seats in some venues instead of permanent ones." A Tokyo official said, "In total we are now able to slash the cost of facilities by 41.3 billion yen ($362.3M)." The official added that this would reduce the total cost of building venues for the 2020 Games to 182.2B yen ($1.6B) from a previous plan of 224.1B yen ($1.96B). In June, the IOC "praised Japan for slashing 2020 costs" from around $20B to $13B, but "warned that soaring budgets could yet deter other cities" from bidding for the Games. Tokyo 2020 Coordination Commission Chair John Coates said, "Apart from the fact you've got the budget down now to around $13 billion, the emphasis that you are continuing to work together to further reduce costs and optimize resources is not only important to you and taxpayers, but also very important to the IOC" (AFP, 11/7).
