Venue construction costs for the 2012 London Olympics could rise again by nearly 100 million pounds (US$144 million) but organizers remain confident the games will stay within budget during the economic downturn.
The Department of Culture, Media, and Sport said in its annual report yesterday that the cost of the main Olympic stadium, aquatics center and other sports venues had increased by another 97 million pounds ($140 million) in the latest budget forecast.
The cost of the 80,000-capacity Olympic stadium has gone up by another 43 million pounds ($62 million) to 547 million ($790 million), the swimming venue up by 5 million ($7.2 million) to 251 million ($362 million) and other Olympic Park venues up by 25 million ($36 million) to 446 million ($643 million)
The total budget for sports venues is now put at 1.367 billion ($1.97 billion)
Organizers stressed they will still come in within the overall 9.325 billion pound ($13.6 billion) budget for venues, infrastructure and regeneration.
"This shows that we are on course to remain on budget despite the current global economic downturn," Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell said in a statement. "While cost forecasts have risen on some venues, these increases have been offset by savings in infrastructure around the venues and work to clean up the park.
"We are now halfway through the project with three quarters of the contingency left available, and we are confident that we can deliver on time and within budget."
The report said savings had been made in various infrastructure costs, including site clearing, bridges, highways, transportation and logistics.
Last month, the British government released 461 million pounds ($651 million) in contingency funds to pay for the athletes' village and the international media center. Both projects were hit by a shortfall in private funding because of the credit crisis.
Construction started last summer on the Olympic stadium, aquatics center and athletes' village.
The Olympic Stadium, which will be converted to a 25,000-capacity athletics venue after the games, was originally budgeted to cost 496 million pounds.
The report said the additional costs for the stadium were due to the price of an external wrap around the building and changes to the roof to meet requirements for the opening and closing ceremonies. The increase in the aquatics venue was related to the costs of a bridge over the arena and enhanced facilities, the report said.
The 9.3 billion budget - more than double the original estimate and announced in March 2007 - included 2.7 billion pounds ($3.9 billion) in contingency funds. Of that, 1.2 billion pounds ($1.7 billion) has been spent so far.
"With a continued, disciplined search for savings and a sensible use of the contingency funds set aside to manage risks, we remain within budget despite the current economic downturn," Jowell said. "It will not be exceeded."