Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the London 2012 Olympics would deliver jobs and lasting economic regeneration in an article published on Thursday ahead of a cabinet meeting at the Games site.
Brown, writing in London's free Metro newspaper, said thousands of jobs and apprenticeships would be created by hosting the Games in east London.
Business contracts would help industries in the recession, he said, especially in an area that was until recently run-down.
"Staging the Games will fuel our passion and enthusiasm for sport and will also leave a lasting legacy of social and economic regeneration," he wrote.
"We are already reaping the benefits from a massive capital investment programme to build the venues and infrastructure."
Construction on the Olympic Park, which organisers call the largest building project in Europe, is on track to be completed ahead of schedule.
However increased venue costs have contributed to the overall Olympic budget spiralling from the initial estimate of 2.4 billion pounds ($3.9 billion) to 9.3 billion pounds.
The British taxpayer has had to step in after private funding partners for two of the biggest venues, the Olympic village and media centre, struggled to secure commercial financing in the credit crunch.
Britain is currently mired in its worst recession for decades, with unemployment at its highest since 1996.
Unemployment, the economy and public spending are set to be key battlegrounds ahead of an election that has to be held before next June.
Brown's Labour Party, which is behind in opinion polls, is taking his Cabinet to the Olympic site for its first meeting after a summer recess which has been dominated by accusations that Britain applied pressure on the Scottish government to release the Lockerbie bomber.
Brown said about 1,000 UK-based companies, including half in London, have so far won work worth 5 billion pounds on the Olympic site.
About 4,500 workers have been employed, one in five of them local, rising to 30,000 overall, and more than 2,200 trainee apprenticeships and placements will have been offered, he said.
"At a time of enormous economic upheaval the opportunities which hosting the Games are bringing to this country cannot be overestimated," he wrote.
The promise of a sporting legacy and economic regeneration was a significant factor in London being awarded the Games, but a report in July by the London Assembly said these aims were falling short, including on job training.
It pointed out that only 112 people previously unemployed from the host boroughs have joined the Olympic workforce, and of the 303 trainees, apprenticeships and work placements created since January 2009, only 10 percent were apprenticeships.
The report also said aspirations to create thousands of jobs could be at risk without swathes of new private sector funding.
(Source: Reuters)
