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Budget for Stratford velodrome rises to £100m
Matthew Beard, Sports News Correspondent04.02.09
THE budget for the Olympic velodrome has risen by £20million to at least £100million because of construction complications, the Government will admit this week.
The official annual report into the Games to be published tomorrow by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport will also show rising costs at most other venues.
However, Olympics minister Tessa Jowell will say that the total project is on track to stay within its £9.3billion budget.
The velodrome has been affected by contamination. It is on the site of a 100-year-old tip and hundreds of tonnes of domestic and industrial waste have had to be removed.
The report will also show that the recession has cut the costs of raw construction materials by up to 15 per cent and that £25million should be saved from the two per cent cut in VAT.
Projected costs at other venues, including the £303million aquatics centre and the £520million main stadium, are also thought to be rising.
Reader views (8)
Wages coming down; materials costs coming down; they presumably already knew that the land was contaminated when they signed the contract. Somebody please explain.
- Mdj E10, london, uk
Gary,
The reason for the £20 million additional cost is contamination of the ground. This is a risk that contractors are unwilling to take on, or will include in their tender at the maximum risk level. This is probably why the risk was taken on by the Employer.
The question you should be asking is why the surveys, that should have taken place, did not highlight the extent of the contamination.
This additional cost will not result in an increase to the budget for the Games, it will be expenditure of the Project Contingency that they set aside for such eventualities.
- Andrew, London
To "Tom, London", back to school mate. Raw materials across the whole project (i.e. the main stadium, velodrome, aquatic centre etc) are down 25million, not just the velodrome.
- Scott, London
They lied and cheated in their efforts to secure the 2012 games - which the vast majority of the British people knew we could not afford. Will Tessa Jowell, Coe, etc. have the courage to tell those of us who are paying their salaries EXACTLY how much these games are going to cost us. If I lived in London I would be campaigning to have them removed from office.
- R.F., Yorks, UK
this building was tendered for, and presumably won by the lowest bid. That being the casee, how can the builders demaond another £20m - they should build it for the costs that won the bid, or face breach of contract legal action. Its common sense!!!
- gary, amersham
..To echo Ms Tessa Jowell's words "London Taxpayers will not be asked to stump up extra for 2012": Please focus on that word 'London', and you will see that before much longer, Council taxpayers throughout the rest of England will be asked to 'contribute'. I have been shouting this from the top of Canary Wharf since 2005, when we first got lumbered with this junket. So, to all those in the media, if you fancy a really nice juicy story, ask Ms Jowell outright "Are you going to extend the council tax precept for 2012 to other parts of England and the UK in the light of recent budget shortfalls"? ...and then make a careful note of her answers. Who'll be first? BBC, Sky? ..The Sun...?
- Joannie, London, England
And is anyone suprised? -no its the usual same old storey like the Dome,The Olympics,Wembley and every other public project but hey who cares as its only us tax payers who end up paying not the people who caused the increase.
- Mike, London England
So commidities down by £25 miilion vs increased velodrome budget of £20 million... = svaings of £5 miilion! I wonder why that isn't your headline.
- Tom, London
