Exclusive: Tokyo 2020 COO Admits Increasing Building Costs Could Force Budget Rethink

By Christian Radnedge

The chief operating officer of Tokyo 2020 has told iSportconnect that increasing engineering costs in Japan could force them into readjusting their budget for the Games.

Yukihiko Nunomura was speaking at the Presenting Japan exhibition at the Queen Elizabeth II centre in London this week, arthritis showcasing the country’s preparation for the 2019 Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Recently, prostate | it was revealed that the 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic organising committee have had to scale back costs for Games preparation because of spiralling inflation in Brazil and the national currency continuing on a downward spiral.

Nunomura was sure that Tokyo 2020 had sufficiently safeguarded against the threat of a national or global recession by securing most of the funding from the private sector.

“The current situation is the Tokyo metropolitan office is quite economically stable and they would be taking care of a lot of their events, illness ” he said. “So that should be OK in terms of their infrastructure and the architectural aspects.

“Also, as well as their budget, a lot of it is going to be supported by the sponsorship and the financial aids that is given by the sponsors as well and the number of sponsors is actually more than we anticipated so in both respects it should be OK.

“One of the concerns though is the architectural costs and engineering costs in Japan is increasing steadily, so that may need a slight bit of re-planning. But all in all, we should be OK.”

Tokyo 2020’s revised budget earlier this year drew praise from the International Olympic Committee on their inspection visit, where the figure for new venues was reported to be $2.8billion.

That comes after plans for the new National Stadium in Tokyo were scrapped after the budget for the Zaha Hadid designed venue doubled.

The venue was to play host to the 2019 Rugby World Cup final. Although as the new plan means a new stadium will not be built until 2020, the final has been moved to the International Stadium Yokohama in Kanagawa.

A new stadium design is due to be chosen by December, Nunomura confirmed, and it is thought there will be a simple straightforward approach to the venue with no retractable roof, a reduction in the VIP and hospitality suites and underground parking facilities.

Along with a new stadium, Tokyo also has to decide on a new logo after having to go back to the drawing board on that aspect of the Games as well.

Their original Games logo was accused of copyright as it was too similar to a Belgian theatre logo, so a committee was launched in the summer to address the issue of finding a new emblem.

Nunomura said: “We are hoping to get the stadium up and built by January 2020. So we have more than six months to get the stadium ready and filled for the Games.

“Also, for the logo, we are hoping to select one by March 2016 so it’s going to be ready to be announced to the public in Rio so we can really promote the Tokyo Games.”

Japan do at least have a logo for the 2019 Rugby World Cup which they proudly revealed this week ahead of the final of this year’s edition taking place at Twickenham on Saturday between New Zealand and Australia.

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