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Friday, 16 March 2007 |
Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell speaks on revised Olympics budget
Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell was speaking to MPs on Thursday when she announced that a revised budget for the 2012 London Olympics has increased to £9.35 billion, which is nearly four times the £2.4bn original estimate.
Tessa Jowell's decision to make use of an extra £675m of lottery funds was attacked by the Tories because it means that £1 in every £5 of money that would have gone to a charitable cause now goes to the Olympics instead.
Construction for the Olympics park and venues now has a budget of £5.3bn and there is a £2.7bn "contingency fund." In addition to these amounts, the tax and security costs have also gone up.
Tessa Jowell explained that the contingency fund is a safeguard to prevent the government being "held to ransom" as it attempts to make deadlines set.
Tessa Jowel said that the government's contribution has increased to £6bn, with £2.2bn coming from the National Lottery and the remainder of the money is being taken from taxpayers in London and she said that London Mayor Ken Livingstone has pledged to contribute an extra £300m.
The costs for actually putting the Olympics on will come from the sale of television rights, corporate sponsorship and from ticket sales for the event.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 20 March 2007 )
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