IOC
urges Tokyo to set budget soon to cut costs further
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[December 02, 2016]
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO (Reuters) - The International
Olympic Committee (IOC) has called on Tokyo to show a sense of
urgency about finalizing its budget for the 2020 Summer Games,
noting that costs will continue to increase the longer it takes
At an open meeting for a four-party working group that includes the
IOC on Tuesday, Tokyo 2020 organizers vowed to keep costs below $20
billion but the Olympic authority felt even that amount was too
high.
A budget review by Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike, who took office in
July, said costs could surge to more than 3 trillion yen ($26.36
billion), more than four times initial estimates made when Tokyo won
hosting rights.
IOC Vice President John Coates, in Tokyo for a meeting of Olympic
planners and the working group meeting, told a news conference that
there were ways that Tokyo, hosting the Summer Games for a second
time, could pare costs even further.
"The IOC just isn't going to sign off on a budget that we think
exceeds what's needed for the cost of the games," he said.
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Tokyo is an expensive city in terms of rental for existing venues
and other costs, but he said there were still savings to be made...
and the sooner decisions were made, the better.
"There can be significant savings made in security and many other
areas if the procurement starts earlier," he added. "The longer you
leave entering into contracts, the more expensive the contracts are
going to be."
Tokyo organizers said this week they would draw up a final budget by
the end of the year.
Coates said the two days of talks that ended on Friday also decided
venues for the five new sports to be added to the program from 2020,
with baseball and softball to take place mainly in the neighboring
city of Yokohama.
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![](../images/120216pics/sports61.jpg)
International Olympic Committee (IOC) Vice President and Chairman of
the Coordination Commission for the Tokyo 2020 Games John Coates (R)
and Yoshiro Mori, head of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics organising
committee attend at a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, December 2,
2016. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
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Of the others, Karate will be held in the venerable Budokan, built
for the 1964 Summer Olympics in the Japanese capital and the setting
for numerous iconic concerts since.
He added that "continuing good progress" had been made in the
preparations.
Games organizers have run into a series of broken promises and
problems in their preparations, including scrapping the original
design for the centerpiece National Stadium as well as the first
logo after allegations that it was plagiarized.
Work finally began on the stadium this week, more than a year behind
schedule.
($1 = 113.8200 yen)
(Reporting by Elaine Lies)
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