The Observer reports that the true cost of the Olympic Stadium for the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games was “seriously underestimated” by London 2012 organizers when they were bidding for the Games.
According to the newspaper sports and construction experts now predict that despite the official cost was pegged at 280 million pounds the final figure will be closer to 500 million pounds.
A spokesman for Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell said last night that the original price of the stadium would be revised when a new, final budget for 2012 is agreed upon by the government early next year. The spokesman also confirmed that the cost of converting the stadium from an 80,000-seat venue during the Games to a 25,000-capacity athletics arena once the Games were over had not been included in the 280 million pound figure.
The Department of Culture, Media and Sport said Sunday night that the stadium was in the bid book at 280 million pounds because International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules meant that construction costs had to be given in 2004 prices, not the likely overall cost by 2012. Because of inflation in the construction industry now at 6.5 per cent the venue was always going to cost more than the original figure, said the spokesman.
The cost of all Olympic venues would also go up for the same reason he said, adding that allowance for the increase above 280 million pounds had been made in the public sector funding package for 2012 building projects, which went up last week from 2.4 billion pounds to 3.3 billion pounds, but he could not give a likely final figure.
Meanwhile there is a problem over the choice of a consortium awarded a huge contract to oversee construction work for the 2012 Games. The winning group the Olympic Delivery Authority chose three months ago has been accused of getting a head start in the bidding process.
The group known as CLM which consists of the American consultant CH2M Hill, the British-based construction group Laing O’Rourke and the project manage Mace was picked after a long selection process that began in May with a short list of four.
Now the times reports it has come to light that CLM’s Mace had people working within the ODA while the bid process was underway while none of the other consortiums had staff within the authority, reports the newspaper.
