The idea of the 2012 Olympics was ’sold’ to the people of London partially on the basis of cost, which was said to be £2.35bn ‘on the high side’.
Now it seems that just the cost of construction in Newham before the Olympics begin will be more than £3.3bn alone. The total cost for the games stands, right now, at £9bn, or almost four times the original cost statement, according to the Treasury and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
The DCMS said budget talks were still ongoing and accurate figures would be announced later. A spokesperson for London 2012, responding to the BBC report, said that the figures were “speculative” and that the final figures had not yet been agreed
Shadow culture secretary Hugo Swire told the BBC that the news was “staggering”, and said Chancellor Gordon Brown should take responsibility, because he signed off the original budget.
I wonder how long it will take Ken Livingstone to go back on his promise that Londoners would not have to pay more than he had original promised.
For amusement’s sake, here are the various estimates of the cost of the games, from both the government and the critics of the Olympic bid, arranged by time:
July 2005
- Government - £1.5bn (obvious balderdash by Seb Coe.This figure didn’t even make it to the actual bid)
- Critics - £8.5bn
November 2005
- Government - £2.35bn (This budget is ‘confident’ and ‘realistic’)
- Critics - £8.5bn
November 2006
- Government - £3.3bn (this change due to the government forgetting that it would have to pay VAT on construction materials)
- Critics - £8.5bn
February 2007
- Government - £9bn (seems they still can’t calculate VAT, forgot to hire security and didn’t realize that inflation existed)
- Critics - £8.5bn
These are the ramblings of 