LONDON: Recognised as one of the best Olympics ever, London 2012 came with a hefty price tag for the British taxpayer despite government figures yesterday showing a £377m saving on the budget for the sporting spectacle.
The final quarterly economic report published by the UK government’s Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) said the overall cost of delivering the Games was £8.92 bn, lower than the £9.3bn set aside.
The London 2012 Organising Committee’s (LOCOG) own £2.2bn operational budget for the day-to-day running of the Games came almost entirely from sponsorship, ticket sales, merchandise and from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
However, the actual “Games-time” cost ran close to £3m when adding on £514m for venue security and £137m for “operational provisions” as well as extra money for more lavish ceremonies, all of which came from the public purse.
Despite steep rises in venue security costs as the Games approached, the figures released yesterday showed £480m in unused contingency from the public funding package.
While the operational costs escalated, the report said the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), the government-funded body responsible for building the venues and infrastructure, completed the project for £6.71bn, £1bn less than initially forecast.
The final budget report came on the day LOCOG began handing back parts of the Olympic Park to the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), who will transform the sprawling east London site into the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
“We have now begun the first chapter of the lasting legacy we promised when we bid for the Games,” LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe said in a statement.
The £292m project will remove temporary venues, complete a retro-fit of the Olympic Village to create a new London community with 2,800 homes and install new roads and pathways.
Reuters
