Hein Verbruggen, head of the IOC evaluation commission, met briefly with Kazuhito Konishi of the We Don’t Need the Osaka Olympics Federation, and Hidetoshi Yotsumoto, a spokesman for a citizens group opposing the bid for financial and safety reasons.
According to Yotsumoto, Konishi told Verbruggen and another IOC delegate that his group and its supporters oppose Osaka’s bid because it would bring about “an enormous amount of financial burden” to the city.
Yotsumoto said that at the end of 2000, the city of 2.6 million people already had accumulated a financial debt of $48 billion (U.S.).
Opponents are also concerned that the two man-made islands being built for several venues of the Games are insecure. Yotsumoto said the islands are expected to sink 8.7 metres by 2005 before construction of further sports and related facilities will be finished.
