Reuters reports the British government released hundreds of millions of pounds of contingency funds Wednesday for the Olympic Village, and the International Broadcast and Media Centre because developers failed to attract private investment for the two venues to cover their share of the costs.
According to Reuters 461 million pounds would be injected into the two projects with another 35 million pounds of contingency covering increased costs on projects such as the Aquatics Centre and the Olympic Stadium.
Olympic Minister Tessa Jowell said in a statement, “the village and media centres are absolutely essential to a successful London Games with a real lasting legacy. With private sector funding now much more difficult to secure because of the global economic downturn, it is right that we take steps to safeguard these projects”.
Reuters reports it was also confirmed that the media centre would be completely funded from public coffers after its planned private partner failed to secure sufficient loans.
Jowell said, “the extra funds we have allocated today come from existing contingency funds within the overall 9.3 billion budget. Lower than anticipated construction inflation and good progress across the project has reduced risks, meaning that the overall budget is unchanged and enough contingency funds remain. We are determined to deliver the Games within budget”.
