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Taxpayers face a bill of £100million for Olympic venues that will remain empty for up to a year before the Games.
Olympics chiefs may have to raid their emergency fund to pay for the maintenance and security of sites that are finished well ahead of the Games. The Olympic Stadium, the aquatics centre and the velodrome are all on track to be completed by mid-2011.
Click on the image below to see a large version of the plans
Games bosses are at loggerheads over who pays for their upkeep.
As soon as building work is completed, government agency the Olympic Delivery Authority, which is responsible for construction of venues, wants to hand them over to Games organising committee, Locog, for final fitting out.
It is Locog's role to add seating, turnstiles, catering, media facilities and venue branding. But to keep down costs, Locog - which is privately funded - only wants to take over the venues just in time to stage test events ahead of the Games.
Much of the extra cost from the "gap year" is expected to go on securing the 600-acre site and venues. There will be 300 guards patrolling the perimeter fence and operating the hi-tech biometric hand-reading system controlling entry to the Olympic Park.
Games sources have indicated costs could rise to as much as £100million. The money may have to come from the £585million which remains from the contingency fund, made up of public money and held by the Government.
The original £2.7billion contingency fund - built into the overall £9.3billion budget - has already helped finance the Olympic village and media centre. Talks over the funding, involving ODA chief executive David Higgins, Locog chief executive Paul Deighton and Olympics minister Tessa Jowell, are not expected to finish until early next year.
The £500million stadium is due for completion in February 2011, with final fitting out not due to start until eight months later. Building work on the £300million aquatics centre and the £100million velodrome is due to end in April 2011, with the final pieces installed six months later.
Responsibility for the "gap year" has come into focus after it was agreed that the Olympic Park Legacy Company - a venture between City Hall and the Government - would not take control of venues until after 2012.
An ODA spokesman said: "We are completing the majority of venues as planned in summer 2011 to allow time for overlay and test events. Discussions are ongoing between the ODA, the Government and Locog to agree the split of responsibilities for between the end of construction and the Games."
Reader views (4)
Sack the Project Manager, ban bonuses, introduce work related pay for all non manual workers involved in the olympics.
- Jacqui Smith'S Dvd Collection!, Hackney, London
The games will be a disaster and be the final nail in the coffin of the UK. Scrap them now.
- Graham, London
Don't worry, there is no danger that these stadia will be completed on time. They will be full of workers until the morning before the start of this silly festival of running about, jumping and throwing things.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, the Scottish one
Who plans to finish building a white elephant for an Olympics a year earlier than the games themselves? The idiots in charge of this fiasco need to investigated and fired for misconduct.
- Frank, London
