Spendthrift 2012 Olympics

AFP Press today:

LONDON — The London 2012 Olympics organisers were slammed Wednesday by an influential committee of British lawmakers for lack of foresight and spending money "like water".

The scrutiny body lashed the government, saying the soaring budget had undermined confidence in the London Games and accused the organisers of having no clear vision of how the event would increase sports participation.

The Culture, Media and Sport select committee singled out the planned Acquatics Centre, which has more than tripled in cost from an estimated 75 million pounds (95 million euros, 148 million dollars) when London bid for the Games to the final 242 million pounds announced this month.
"It appears to be over-designed... and an expensive way of providing the facilities for water sports needed during and after the Games," the committee's report said.

"The history of the Aquatics Centre shows a risible approach to cost control and that the Games organisers seem to be willing to spend money like water."

The lawmakers said the Olympics should not exceed its 9.325 billion pound budget and that any unspent money should be returned.

The surge in cost from the original budget of 3.4 billion pounds has damaged confidence in the management of the event, they said.

There could be no excuse for the budget rising again, said committee chairman John Whittingdale.

"We were pleased to find that, since we last reported, a more realistic approach has been adopted, and we expect that the Games should be delivered comfortably within budget," he said.
"We are disappointed that, so far, little progress has been made in setting out a clear strategy for delivering a permanent increase in sporting participation, despite this being a key feature of the bid."

The committee doubted whether sales of land and property after the Games would bring in as much money as the government and the London mayor's office predict.

They also said it may be "very difficult" to raise 100 million pounds from the private sector for elite sport, as required by the government.