London’s 2012 Olympics organizers may cancel plans to build a temporary sports venue in Greenwich in an effort to reduce costs.
The organizers, after meeting yesterday to review a report on venues by consultants KPMG, also reiterated plans to build temporary facilities for basketball in the Olympic Park and for equestrian events in Greenwich Park, in the U.K. capital’s southeast, according to an e-mailed statement from the 2012 Olympics board.
Games officials pledged to control costs after the games’ 9.3 billion-pound ($13.8 billion) budget tripled from the 2005 bid estimate. Britain’s economy contracted in the third quarter, and organizers have so far failed to arrange bank financing for the construction of the Olympic Village, a development of 3,000 apartments where athletes will live during the games.
The KPMG report recommended canceling the North Greenwich Arena 2, a 6,000-seat building that would host badminton and rhythmic gymnastics, Paul Deighton, chief executive of the games’ organizing committee, said yesterday in a presentation to the city’s legislative assembly.
“We continue to look at ways to deliver the games and to save significant amounts of money,” Deighton told the assembly. The two sports could be moved to an existing facility, though he didn’t say where.
The organizers confirmed plans to hold basketball and handball at a 12,000-seat temporary arena in the Olympic Park and the equestrian events at Greenwich Park because moving the venues would be costly and complicated, according to the statement from the Olympic Board.
source: bloomberg.com
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