Cost for 2020 Games gymnastics venue more than double now

[November 16, 2016]  (Reuters) - The cost to build a temporary gymnastics arena for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo has more than doubled with Shimzu Corp winning the $190 million (20.5 billion yen) contract, according to a report.

The venue, which will accommodate 12,000 spectators, will be raised at Tokyo's Koto Ward with construction expected to be completed by October 2019, Kyodo news agency reported.

The cost was initially slated to be $81.61 million (8.9 billion yen), as stated in the candidature file presented to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2013.

The organizers cited reasons such as increase in construction prices and bolstering the earthquake-resistance system for the cost hike. The building will be used, after the Games, as an exhibition hall until 2030.

They added the initial price reflected only the construction cost, while Shimzu's bid included design cost as well.

The Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee and the Tokyo metropolitan government will soon meet to talk about ratio of sharing expense.

A woman is silhouetted against a monitor showing Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics emblems during the Olympic and Paralympic flag-raising ceremony at Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Tokyo, Japan, September 21, 2016. REUTERS/Toru Hanai

IOC President Thomas Bach met Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike in October and had proposed a committee to look into ways to cut cost after the overall estimates were found to be "very large".

Venues for rowing/canoe sprint, swimming and volleyball have come under the scanner as part of cost-cutting measures.

(Reporting by Debanjan Bose in Bengaluru; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)

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