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Cost of the Olympics quadruples to £10billion
Last updated at 22:52pm on 28.02.07
Artists' impressions of the venues for the 2012 Olympics.
The likely bill for the London Olympics has shot up again to £10billion, according to latest estimates.
Insiders said International Olympic Committee officials, who arrived in the capital yesterday for a two-day meeting, were so concerned that they are demanding a full breakdown of costs from 2012 chairman Lord Coe.
At Prime Minister's Questions yesterday, Tony Blair was challenged by Tory MP David Evennett on the soaring bill - originally estimated at £2.375billion by ministers.
Mr Blair replied: 'Obviously it's important that we keep the costs properly under control.'
The bill for staging the games and regenerating Stratford, where the Olympic Park will be, is now understood to stand at £6.1billion. On top of this, the Treasury is demanding a contingency fund of £2.7billion.
The cost of security - decided before the July 7 attacks - has rocketed from £190million to £1billion, while there is a VAT bill on construction costs of at least £250million.
Sir Steve Redgrave, the five-time Olympic rowing champion, also joined the row yesterday.
He said: 'I have found it frustrating and I will be very satisfied when they say, "this is the budget, this is the money we have got to spend".
'If you were building a house or an extension you would have a budget to spend. I think the British public would prefer that.'
And Tory Olympics spokesman Hugh Robertson said: 'The indications are that the Government is trying to fudge the budget by stripping out costs to keep the headline figure down.'
A Government spokesman said the predictions were 'a mixture of pure speculation and misunderstanding' and an announcement on the true cost would be made 'in due course'.
Reader views (16)
Let's run a book on this. I put the spread on the final total at £22-25 billion.
Winner gets a free pass to a country of their choice that operates joined-up government, has a low tax burden and ensures that public transport works properly.
- Erwin, London
I agree - can't we give the Olympics to the French? The IOC simply needs to demonstrate it was duped. Then the problem can evaporate overnight and we can get on with focusing on the real task at hand: bringing war criminal Blair to justice, and repatriating taxpayers' money that NL has syphoned off.
- Givenuphope, London England
Wasn't it obvious from the beginning that it would cost zillions more than they said it would? Blair thought he was one hell of a fella for getting it for Britain, Livingstone thinks it reflects his mightiness and as for Jowell.. what can one say?
- Judith Chisholm, London
Blair's rush to Singapore to secure the Olympics was all about his legacy, without a single thought for the benefits to England...
Along with the Dome we are paying an enormous price for the ego of this poor excuse for a Prime Minister.
- Bingham Macnamara, Lymington, UK
I suspect £9bn will go to the middle men who contribute nothing and professional meeting attendees who contribute less. Some people are getting very rich.
- Michael, London
Basically the UK "won" the olympics under false pretences.
- Stan, Expat
Spending an extra £7bn to spare the blushes of the incompetents who put the bid together does not strike me as any sensible use of public funds. I suspect that the extra £7bn will climb. We should withdraw as hosts and let the French bear the cost of putting on the games in Paris if they want to.
- John, London
If Brown, Jowell and Livingstone were board members of a public quoted company and were so wrong in their budgeting, they would be fired. These three should be removed from office for sheer incompetence, not to mention totally misleading the UK taxpayer.
- Robin Cardwell, London, UK
Personally I would rather have the Olympics and what is left afterwards than an NHS IT System that will never be used. Look at it as a more useful waste.
- Ted, London
It seems the original quote was very naive - given what other recent games have cost.
On the other hand people in the UK spend £17bn each year on Christmas - at least with the regeneration there is a bit more of a legacy- than old wrapping paper - and yes - of course that is the individual's choice to spend. But we've committed to this and these arguements will carry on until the games are over.
The real question is will the benefit of the games be worth more than £10m?
- Julia C, london
Oh, what's a 400% overrun among friends? It'll probably end up 600% or 800%. Who cares? The idiot taxpayers will pick up the tab and vote the incompetants back into office.
- R M, London, UK
To all of the people who supported the London Olympic bid, do you mind paying my council tax for the next 20 years as I've opposed this from day one and fail to see why I should have to pay for this travesty.
- Lloyd, London
Sorry to put it in such blunt terms, but what is going on here?!
- Steve R, London, UK
Why don't we outsource Government to the French? They own many of our utilities providers, were right all along about the Iraq war, and clearly would have won the Olympic bid if our lot hadn't done the "dodgy-building-quote" trick on the IOC, and us! Don't forget, having won the bid by conning the IOC, it's us that pays the bill.
Build housing and social facilities in Stratford by all means, the people living there need it, but offer business tax breaks to encourage investment in jobs, and use the many existing stadia in and around the capital for the Olympics, after all, most of them are currently used for about 30 days each year!
- Matterhorn, Hampton
The IOC needs to withdraw the Olympics from London. How on earth can the original budget quadrupling be acceptable to them? The tax payer is getting mugged yet again (to the tune of in excess of £10B) and we don't even get a say in the matter.
No say - just pay - it's the nu labour way.
- Andy, London
I freely admit I underestimated how much the two week 'hop skip and jump' festival will cost. When ministers said 3 billion I said to my wife that'll be 10 billion then. But to have it reach ten billion so early makes me re-consider. My wife reckons it'll be 15 billion I'm guessing nearer 18 billion.
Please remember this so that I can say' told you so' when it all goes 'Dome shaped'.
I wanted Paris to get it. Let Paris be bankrupted I said.
Lucky London taxpayers eh? You lot will be buying your 'Walnut Whip' every week for the next thousand years to pay for Ken's Ego fest.
- Ethan, UK
