The Chronicle Herald reports that Halifax’s bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games will probably cost up to $285 million more than has been previously reported.
Bid committee chairman Fred MacGillivray told a news conference Friday that if the Games were awarded to the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), the three government levels, (federal, provincial and municipal) and the private sector will bankroll it. He said final figures are not known.
MacGillivry said, “specific elements required from the domestic bid budget…adjusted for inflation, over the 2005 to 2014 period, would be between $750 and $785 million”.
He said the estimate isn’t a new figure but one that his bid committee was working with during the national contest for the Games.
MacGillivry said, “I (have) said that the number would not be dissimilar to (the) 2010 Games (which HRM also competed for), and that number was $500 million. I said if you took inflation in place, and factored it in, the number would not be far off” figures released at the news conference. It’s not a new figure for us – that’s the figure we used during the domestic bid process”, he told the newspaper. “The number didn’t move up”.
He said officials need more information before it is known how much money each level of government and the private sector will contribute to the Games, adding that he should know more next month after a meeting in England with representatives of the Commonwealth Games Federation.
Games promoters have said there’s a projected economic spin-off of $2 billion for the city and beyond if the federation selects Halifax over Glasgow Scotland or Abuju Nigeria. Bidding remains open until February 24.
Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly said most people in the region support Halifax’s quest for the Games because the event will “bring forth things that we’re already planning”, such as an expanded commuter ferry system and needed recreation centres.
Claude Bennett, board president of Commonwealth Games Canada, told reporters that details of Halifax’s bid that organizers consider sensitive will not be disclosed because Canada’s bid officials don’t want to tip their hand to the international competition, adding it will become very public in due course.
The winner of the 2014 Commonwealth Games will be announced in the fall of 2007 in Sri Lanka.