IOC confident over London 2012 budget 06/07/2010 |
|
| |
| |
International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge has insisted the swingeing budget cuts announced recently by the British Government will not have a negative impact on the London 2012 Games.
The new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition revealed last month that £27m was to be cut from the Olympic budget as part of a wider £6.2bn of savings in public spending.
The previous Labour government had said the £9.325bn budget for the 2012 Games was ring-fenced.
But during a visit to the Olympic Park on Monday (July 5), Rogge said the budget for the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), which is the body responsible for building the venues, is "lean'' but ''sound''.
He was also impressed that work on the main stadium was "so far advanced''.
Rogge, who helped to screw in the 2012th seat inside the Olympic Stadium, said: "The first priority is to work hard. The second priority is to work hard and the third priority is to work hard.
"This is the last straight and everyone knows that the last straight is often the hardest one.''
Rogge was in London as the IOC's co-ordination commission of inspectors began a regular three-day check-up of preparations for the London 2012 Games.
His tour of the Olympic Park in Stratford, east London, where more than 65 per cent of the venue is already Games-ready, also included a look at the athletes' village.
Rogge was last at the Olympic Stadium two years ago to mark the anniversary of the 1948 Games, the last time London hosted the event.
He said: "First of all I am very glad to see how far advanced this [the stadium] is. This is a beautiful stadium and I think it is going to be a great legacy for the city.
"I think they [the London organisers] have made a magnificent effort. Both LOCOG (the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games) and the ODA have worked hard in a difficult environment but they have achieved a lot. They are on schedule and on budget which bodes well for the Games.
"I think the budget of the ODA, including the cuts requested by the Government of £27m, is a sound budget. Already the ODA have cut costs of £600m. They have a lean budget and the same for LOCOG. We are at a point where every pound has to be very well spent.''
|
| Back |
| |
| |
|
|
 |
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
