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Mayor's hopes of cutting 2012 costs dashed by report
Matthew Beard, Sports News Correspondent20 Nov 2008
BORIS JOHNSON said today he was "disappointed" after a Government-commissioned review concluded that no further significant savings could be made on Olympic venues.
The Mayor reacted after the Olympic Board last night agreed to accept the recommendations of the report by accountancy firm KPMG not to move the equestrian events from Greenwich and to keep the temporary basketball arena in the Olympic Park because the alternatives offered no cost reduction.
Shooting in Woolwich remains officially under review but the Olympic Board is unlikely to opt for the alternative - Bisley, in Surrey - once the cost analysis is complete.
Savings of up to £15million may be achieved if, as expected, plans for a temporary arena to host rhythmic gymnastics and badminton in North Greenwich are scrapped. Olympics chiefs are in talks with Quintain, the owners of the Wembley Arena, about moving the badminton event there.
The Mayor has pressed for big savings on Olympic venues but accepted the findings of the KPMG report. His spokesman said: "The Mayor recognises that there was not the scope for savings and was disappointed about this - though not with the process. He accepts that this was a good report and not a whitewash."
The Mayor's Olympics supremo, Carphone Warehouse tycoon David Ross, would be "breathing down the neck" of Olympics chiefs to identify any other cost savings, the spokesman added.
The KPMG report is expected to be published within the next two weeks once commercially sensitive information has been deleted. Last night the 2012 organising committee, Locog, issued a statement setting out the Board's decision on basketball and equestrian events.
Locog said that the main obstacle to moving Olympic equestrian events to alternative venues, thought to include Badminton, Hickstead and Windsor, was the modern pentathlon event.
The statement said: "None of the alternatives identified by Locog and considered by KPMG are in a location which is close enough to accommodate the modern pentathlon showjumping event which needs to be located close to the Olympic Park to allow the completion of all five events within one day. Any move away from Greenwich would therefore result in a doubling up of facilities."
Relocating the temporary 12,000-seat basketball venue from the Olympic Park was also ruled out on cost grounds. The venue will also host handball, wheelchair rugby and wheelchair basketball and will be a holding area for athletes before the opening and closing ceremonies.
Reader views (13)
"The Mayor's Olympics supremo, Carphone Warehouse tycoon David Ross, would be "breathing down the neck" of Olympics chiefs to identify any other cost savings, the spokesman added" ..... we can all go to bed at night knowing the olympic budget is in safe hands!!
- Marke, Houston, Texas, 15/12/2008 23:00
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Costs not to be reduced, have you tried going to a bookmakers and getting a price on the games not costing over £20 Billion, my bookmaker would not give any odds on this. So if the bookmakers aren't offering a price on it, clearly they think it is going to go up.
- Richard Allen, Cowes, Isle of Wight, 26/11/2008 17:37
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I had a job on the olympics and was promised work for next few years within a month myself and numours electricians have been laid off due to buildings being put on hold.how is this project going to finish if they can not afford to put up the buildings.They are cutting corners already buy using cheaper materials.But the health and saftey and site management seem to be having a whale of a time ,they should cut down the managemet not the workers,i overheard the management talking about how it took them all lunchtime to find a decent fish and chip shop in stratford,and one of the management did not want to stay until the end of the working hours he wanted to leave work early so he could go get his glad rags on and hit the town probably using the expensise card.Its the management who needs to go first and save money on this project they have a job title for everything and walk around allday pointing at this and that.
- Mark Johnson, london, 26/11/2008 17:31
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I don't understand. Equestrian at Greenwich is going to cost about £20m. Windsor next year is hosting the European Championships concurrently in both dressage and show jumping with their benefit of an existing facility and a £900K grant from UK Sport. That will be as near as damn it an equestrian dress rehearsal because the Europeans dominate the Olympic arena - you won;t be seeing any teams from Kenya or Kazakhstan in 2012. So are we being asked to believe that the cross-country will cost nearly £19m? This is a nonsense.
- Peter Richards, Peckham, South London, 24/11/2008 19:47
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The only ones to benefit from the Olympics are the Olympic Committee. The site will end up being a desert.
- Vicki, London, London, 20/11/2008 16:59
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Eight out of ten of the last Summer Olympics have been financial burdens for their host cities. The two exceptions have been Los Angeles and Atlanta, because the Americans have, for the most part, made do with already existing venues. If we must have this obscene spectacle, then we should have followed the American example in the first place. Take note of two Olympic disasters - the Athens Olympic complex is abandoned and vandalised, and the Olympic Stadium in Montreal was nicknamed the "Big Owe", because the Canadians "owed" so much money on it. It took them 30 years to clear their debt, and today, the Stadium has no permanent tenant.
- Cally G, Essex, UK, 20/11/2008 14:54
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They could save about £9.4bn of unwanted costs by scrapping the whole thing!
- Nobby Clark, Perth, Scotland, 20/11/2008 13:30
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Suppose you can actually see what the millions of tax payers money is being been spent on rather than the illusive bank scum...Problem is, will we have any gold left in the reserves by then to make the medals?
- Dean, London, 20/11/2008 13:08
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Darren, London
Yeh! Your right Darren lets all stop moaning and enjoy it! Lets just let this lot throw all are money down the drain. I suppose you will also be enjoying TFL's above inflation fare rises next year and the eventual huge tax rises due to the mismanagement of the economy. Its opinion like yours which let the government and other organisations get away with anything.
- Paul, London, 20/11/2008 12:59
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They could save 15 million tomorrow by just getting rid of some of the stuck up fresh out of uni but will be charged out a max rate KPMG consultants who don't actually know anything.... Very worrying that they have no scope for the price to rise again in the next 3-4 years..so when are we going to get charged the olympic tax?
- Jonw, London, 20/11/2008 12:46
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Just tell Stretford parties take this or we don't do the olympics here. It always was a Nu Labor influenced regional development aid package. It should have been in London and not some east end backwater I think.
- Georgie, Islington, London, 20/11/2008 12:09
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This just proves how corrupt the Labour government is. Accountancy firm KPMG must have been given a back hander to come up with this conclusion. How many advisers with government links are getting wads of cash to basically do very little? How many construction firms are charging way over the going rate? Is there anything that New Labour can’t destroy or mismanage…?
- Paul, London, 20/11/2008 11:21
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Can we put the moaning about the budget to rest now and start actually enjoying the damn thing? Nothing is going to change the fact we have to build these venues and the park; we might as well make the most of it. It wont come round again in my lifetime.
- Darren, London, 20/11/2008 10:34
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