£1bn Olympic village could be funded by public
2008-07-01
The £1 billion 2012 Olympic village could be backed entirely by public money after the original contractor failed to attract enough funding.The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) will now offer government backed guarantees to banks willing to fund the Olympic Village site, after Australian property developer Lend Lease failed to secure sufficient funding.
As reported by the Independent, the project was originally intended to be funded by Lend Lease - which would then take the profits on the apartment sales after 2012 - but discussions now continue over whether it would be more advisable to simply ask the Australian developer to build the project on behalf of the government.
John Armitt, ODA chairman, said that if any public funding is necessary, the government would at the very least share future property sales with Lend Lease.
Mr Armitt is quoted by the Independent as saying: "To the extent we end up providing [financial] support, we will gain influence on the scheme."
When London won the Olympic bid in 2005 the estimated cost was £2.4 billion which has since risen to £9 billion - recently the ex chairman of the ODA admitting that this could rise to £20 billion.
