London 2012 On Time and Budget Despite Cost Increase
February 15, 2011
The Quarterly Economic Report by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) was published yesterday, February 14, with the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) revealing costs for the London 2012 Olympic Games have increased by US$110m since the last quarter. However, they claim that despite this, the Games are still on course to be delivered on time and on budget.
Figures from the Government’s Annual Report on London 2012 show that the overall funding package for the Games remains at $14.870bn while the Anticipated Final Cost (AFC) of the ODA programme is $11.676bn.
This includes a like for like increase in the ODA’s spend of $19m, plus additional funding for park operations – which has been included in the AFC for the first time – of $91m, making the overall increase in the quarter $110m.
The UK’s Minister for Sport and the Olympics, Hugh Robertson stated: “The construction phase is progressing on time and to budget putting the London 2012 programme in the best possible shape.
“This is the year when tickets will go on sale, test events start, volunteers are recruited, the torch relay route is announced and venues start being prepared for competition. Now is the time for everybody to start planning their Games.”
In other news, the schedule of events for the London 2012 Olympic Games has been released with the first action represented by women’s soccer in Cardiff, Glasgow and Coventry on 25 July, two days before the official opening of the Games.
The middle weekend of the flagship international athletics meet promises much for British fans, with trio Jessica Ennis (heptathlon champion), Christine Ohuruogu (sprint hopeful) and Paula Radcliffe (marathon and long-distance running icon) set to be going for gold.
Perhaps the most anticipated event of any Olympic Games is the men’s 100m final, with Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt likely to be centre stage, taking place on Sunday, 5 August.
London 2012 chairman and double Olympic champion Sebastien Coe described the tickets as the “greatest tickets on earth for the greatest show on earth”, stating: “This is a really big moment, a huge moment. In my own experience as a competitor this is the point that it suddenly becomes very real.