Mps Reignite 2012 Budget Debate

A Culture, Media and Sport committee of MPs has reignited the London 2012
Olympic budget row by accusing the government of being ‘willing to spend money
like water’.

The committee says the budget, which has leaped from an initial estimate of
£3.4bn to £9.3bn, has damaged confidence in the Games’ management.

The project for the 2012 aquatics centre came under fire the most after the
costs rose from an estimated £73m in 2004 to £303m.

The MPs expressed doubts over whether the organisers would be able to recoup
the full £1.8bn they were banking on from the sale of land and property after
the event was over.

The priority must now be to keep a lid on the costs and ensure the final bill
comes in ‘comfortably below’ the £9.3bn mark, they said.

‘Although it is not surprising that early assessments under-estimated the
final costs, such a radical revision of cost estimates has been damaging to
confidence in the management of the overall programme.

‘It has also exposed the government and Games organisers to the charge that
the initial bid was kept artificially low in order to win public support.’

While the government’s handling of the funding for the Games came under heavy
fire, the committee, whose members are MPs from all parties, commended the
progress made by the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG).

A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said it was
‘pleased’ the committee had found much to commend in what has been achieved so
far.

But it claimed the committee had ‘double-counted £500m of contingency funds’,
adding that ‘there is no suggestion of the £9.3bn being exceeded’.