Greek Alternate Culture Minister Fani Palli Petralia predicted Tuesday that the total costs for the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games will climb to around 13 billion euros ($16 billion), although the actual costs have not been officially disclosed.
Experts have been predicting that the Olympic overrun expenses will leave a large deficit for generations to come and dozens of white elephants.
Xinhua reports that one year after the Games almost all of the venues remain locked to visitors and largely useless commercially.
Petralia told a local radio station that the ministry is still waiting for local authorities to submit proposals regarding certain venues, but no one seemed to be interested.
The main opposition party disagreed with the minister’s prediction, calling on the government to provide a detailed breakdown of costs.
It also accused the government of “managing to devalue so much and such important achievements of the Greek people in a short period of time”.
