Olympics 'will keep to budget'

Overall funding for the London Olympic Games has remained at £9.28bn according to the government’s latest update, prompting renewed confidence the sports spectacular will keep to its budget.

The government’s 2012 Olympic Quarterly Economic Report, updated to February, also reveals how the games have some £527m of uncommitted contingency funding available, down £1m on the previous quarter.

In December, the National Audit Office warned that the budget for the Games was likely to exceed £9.3m after the government increased expenditure for the Olympics and Paralympics opening ceremonies and pledged an additional £271m for security.

However, Olympics minister Hugh Robertson told the BBC today that with 150 days to go, the Games remained on-time and on budget.

Speaking following the publication of the latest quarterly figures, he said: “This puts us in a strong position and gives me increasing confidence that we can deliver the games under budget.”

Dennis Hone, chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Agency, said significant savings were being made: “Once again we can report that the expected final cost of the venues and infrastructure for London 2012 is down, with costs squeezed again, bringing savings now within sight of the £1bn mark,” he said.

“We remain on the Olympic Park to complete the parklands, roads and spectator access.

“We will complete our role by working with transport operators to get spectators to venues and keep people moving, licensing and enforcing the rules for trading and advertising, concluding contracts and transforming Games-time apartments in the Olympic Village into homes for families after the athletes are gone.”

The current £9.3bn pricetag for the Olympics is a significant increase on the £2.4bn estimated cost at the time of the successful bid in 2005.