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Comment: containing the Olympic costs
Evening Standard5 Jun 2008
The cost of the London Olympics has increased, is increasing - but may at last start to be diminished. As we report today, the Olympics Delivery Authority, the ODA, has decided not to build one venue for fencing and to scale down or move three others, for mountain cycling, handball and basketball, in an effort to contain capital costs. The initiative will, it is hoped, avoid the creation of white elephants - sites more grandiose than the Olympics events actually require and which will need a great deal of money to maintain. For instance, the capacity of the handball arena has been halved, to make it easier to use after 2012, the BMX track will be moved next to the velodrome and the fencing arena is to be relocated to the ExCel centre near the Royal Docks. These changes will be approved by the governing authorities of the sports.
They demonstrate that, at last, the ODAis trying to engage seriously with the problem of ever-rising costs - though, naturally, it is explaining the changes in terms of improving the "spectator experience" rather than budget. The cost of the velodrome and the aquatics centre, for instance, had already more than doubled from the original estimates and projected income from the sale of Olympics sites to developers after the event has been drastically scaled down as a result of the fall in property prices. With four years still to go, the ODA is left with only £252 million of the £1.07 billion budget designated for venues in the Olympics Park.
These modifications to the plans make sense - morally as well as financially. The Games were sold to the people of London on the basis of a relatively modest core budget of £2.4 billion from the taxpayer - with a further £1 billion of public funds for the Olympics park - which has ballooned in an extraordinarily short period to £9.3 billion. Londoners and taxpayers are entitled to expect that the Olympics executives make it their priority to stay within that budget. These amendments to the plans for the Olympics Park are a good start.
