£9bn Figure Linked With 2012 Costs

Another week, another Olympics budget story as media speculation reports that
the costs for London 2012 are set to rise as high as £9bn, nearly four times the
initial £2.35bn figure laid out in the bid.

The Treasury and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) have been
locked in talks for the past few weeks regarding a revision of the 2012 budget
but no announcement has yet been made regarding the new figure.

With construction alone costing in the region of £3.3bn, the new budget is
set to be substantially up on the initial projection with an extra £2bn also
allocated as a contingency fund.

Regeneration costs are also expected to be valued at £1.8bn while a potential
£1bn VAT bill could also be added to the budget unless Chancellor Gordon Brown
decides to waive the fee.

Reports of in-fighting regarding where the additional money should come from
have caused speculation that the Treasury and the DCMS cannot agree on the
revised sum – a fact the government has denied.

‘This is just the latest of many different figures to be quoted by the media
in the last few months, claiming to be the cost of the 2012 Games,’ a DCMS
spokesman said.

‘Discussions are going on across government to resolve outstanding issues and
we will make an announcement about long-term budget figures when they have
concluded.

‘It is completely incorrect to suggest government departments are at odds on
this issue. This is simply not the case.’