Olympic stadium costs 'on target'
2008-06-30
The head of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has insisted that costs remain on target for the new stadium and other venues being prepared for the London 2012 Games.According to John Armitt, the ODA is strictly controlling the cost of London hosting the Olympic Games and looks set to come in on budget at £9.3 billion for the event and around £496 million for the Olympic stadium, despite recent price increases.
The construction consortium for the stadium is led by Sir Robert McAlpine who has previously worked on the new Arsenal football ground and incentives have been built into the contract to keep plans within budget.
Although the initial estimate for the games of £2.4 billion has soared since London was awarded the right to host the 2012 event, the Independent reports that Mr Armitt has the experience to run a project on the scale of the Olympics.
Previously in charge of the construction of the £300 million Severn Crossing and one of the key figures involved in the £5.2 billion Channel Tunnel Rail Link, the 62-year-old was head of Network Rail for five years before moving to the ODA.
Speaking to the newspaper, Mr Armitt insists that investment in east London will benefit the city for decades to come and stresses that contingency funds have been built into the latest cost projections for the project.
The London 2012 Olympic Games will run from July 27th to August 12th and the Olympic Park in the Lower Lea Valley, east London, will house the new venues.
Building work on the new Olympic Stadium started in May 2008, three months ahead of schedule.
