The Observer has obtained a letter from a senior civil servant to London Mayor Ken Livingstone which shows that one billion pounds of government money has been pledged that ministers had not previously revealed, which, according to the Observer, appears to contradict the government’s insistence that the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games would not involve any central funding and would be paid for entirely from lottery receipts and a levy on council taxpayers.
London Mayor’s chief aide for the 2012 Games, Neale Coleman, admits that the cost of land in east London where the Games will be held is set to rise, reports the Guardian. The body set up for the Games intends to buy about 20 per cent more land than the 178 hectares originally intended for the Olympic park.
Also, according to the Guardian, the money budgeted to compensate businesses whose premises will have to move are likely to be too small, as the independent land tribunals that will set compensation levels for many of the 300 firms in the area may decide on more money than London 2012 originally estimated in 2002.
Meanwhile Damian Hockney, a member of the London Assembly for the One London party, said he believes that the Games could turn into a re-run of the Athens 2004 Games when Athens went over budget.
The Guardian reports that Ministers have not publicly announced their surprise one billion pound injection, which is being used to aid the regeneration of the Olympic Park area. The one billion pound figure first emerged in a letter sent to the Mayor on July 21 from Jeff Jacobs, a senior official at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
While the letter said the money was to “support delivery of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games”, Assembly members have been told the one billion pounds is to cover “non-Olympic costs”.
According to the Guardian, London 2012 sources admit privately that some of the costs of staging the Games were deliberately under-estimated or disguised during the bid process.
