London 2012 - Olympics could cost £24 billion
The cost of staging the Olympics has ballooned to more than £12 billion and associated costs could reach as high as £24 billion, according to a new report.
An investigation by Sky News came up with the figures which dwarf the original predicted cost of £2.37 billion, quoted when London bid for the Olympics and Paralympics seven years ago.
The public sector funding package was increased to £9.3 billion after a review in 2007, however, Sky claim to have counted an extra £2.4 billion that has been spent so far.
Their report claims: "The additional cash includes spends on more anti-doping control officers, money for local councils for their Olympic torch relay programmes, cash spent on legacy schemes, paying tube workers not to strike, governmental operational costs, the cost of the Olympic Park Legacy Company, legal bills over the stadium tenancy decision and extra pounds to UK Sport."
Not included in that figure are the associated costs: Sky is claiming that the police are being given £1.1bn in counter-terrorism funding and that there is a £4.4bn budget for security and intelligence services.
On top of that is the extra cost of having 12,000 police officers on duty during the Games and the £6.5bn being spent on transport upgrades which brings the total cost to over £24bn.
The day-to-day running of the actual events will be covered by the London Organising Committee, a private company which raises revenues primarily through sponsorship, merchandising and ticket sales.
They have a budget of £2.1bn to cover the Games.
A Department for Culture, Media and Sport spokesman insisted the budget remains at £9.3bn, and said Sky's figures were unfairly skewed - claiming, for example, policing and transport would have been required in a non-Olympic year.
"The Public Sector Funding Package for the Games is £9.3bn and includes all additional security, defence and public transport provision for the Games," he said.
"It is simply not right to start adding on top of that budgets that would have been in existence regardless of 2012 and claim that as being an Olympic cost.
"We have always been transparent about the cost of the Games and have rigorously managed the budget to ensure the programme remains within the £9.3bn.
"London 2012 is an investment in our country that is already bringing in economic benefits that would otherwise not have been possible.
"It is an incredible opportunity for the United Kingdom - not a burden."
Comment 218 - 237 of 237
I thought we were trying to pay off our debt.
only the UK could get an Olympics in the middle of a recession. If WW3 ever seems likely, we'll probably get it again.
Long term? Not a chance of making money, its already set to be a massive loser.
The irony is the official AFC document (in next link) that is talking about how they are preventing costs scaling out-of-control
Have a look here goo.gl/BYNj9
No Problem ! Just add it on to the £1 Trillion existing National Debt, and " Be Happy", when it reaches £5 Trillion by 2015. Messrs Cameron and Kleg say "Never call a man a fool,borrow off him". Happy Days.
i think it is great for the country. the dome is now the O2 and a major attraction and money generator. £9.3 billion is the amount of change we drop in a 3 year span. grow up and smell the roses people.
A Thumbs Down? It is called sarcasm darling.
doubt the games would even generate the money back and no doubt all the new stadiums will prob end up like most of them in south africa after the world cup , empty and left to rot!!!!!
The money would be better spent shelled out as bonuses to banking execs.
Here we go again, I think we could all see this coming, It's going to be another white elephant just like the Dome.
This is exactly what will happen with HS2, just wait and see. The billions of our money these people waste is and should be criminal. Up the revolution!!
Reminds me of Gracchus speech in 'Gladiator': "Conjure magic for them and they'll be distracted. Take away their freedom and still they'll roar. The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the senate, it's the sand of the coliseum. He'll bring them death - and they will love him for it."
Okay, maybe not death but you get the point...
Another complete waste of money just like the Dome, as others have said this money could have been spent in other areas Roads/Armed forces etc, and stop giving Aid to India and Brazil among others, there economy is growing at around 7+% ours less than 1%. We have a bunch of IDIOTS IN THE GOVERNMENT.
What a friggin waste.........................
The commitee should be sued and sacked right now before further damage is done
You really have to laugh at all the posts on here blaming Labour for the Olympics, yet totally ignore the fact that the person who was the head of the London bid for the Olympics and who did all the hard work to get them here was a conservative politician! If we have anyone to blame for this complete farce, then it is Lord Seb Coe, Life Peer and a tory!!!
A total waste of money.
complete waste of money... PUBLIC money
Nice to see we're getting our money's worth out of this in the Orkney Islands. *Sarchasm aleart*
Coe and the rest of his tribe should be prosecuted for unadulterated fraud and theft. Just check their bank accounts, especially the offshore ones.
coe and the rest of his consortium should be thrown
Well, surprise, surprise - the Olympics are going to cost an absolute fortune - loads more than we were orginally told. Hands up all those naive people who thought that it would come out on budget. I expect that a few people involved will do very nicely out of it!
All this care about the cash has not stopped Coe traipsing around the world, or is he paying for those trips himself?
Please login to post a comment
Not already a Yahoo! user ? Sign up to get a free Yahoo! Account