MP blasts 2012 Olympics bill as ‘catastrophic’
A Labour MP has blasted the financial management of the London Olympics as ‘catastrophic’
In ‘a hardhitting report’ to be published next Tuesday, the
Commons
public accounts committee has lambasted the run-away costs of the Olympics,
which have spiralled from about £3.4bn to more than £ 9bn.
Don Touhig, Labour MP on the committee, has slated the multibillion-pound
rise as likely to go ‘into the Guinness Book of Records for the most
catastrophic financial mismanagement in the history of the world’, the
Evening Standard reports.
According to the London
Development Agency (LDA) the original budget for taking over the Olympic
Park site in Stratford had been £594m, but by the end of March £578.4m had
already been spent.
Information provided under a freedom of information request reveals LDA
saying: ‘the current estimated outturn budget for land and disturbance
compensation payments is £624.41m, with the increase of £30.37m funded from the
approved budget contingency’.
Further reading:
Olympics cost controller picks up £10m windfall
Olympics budget update imminent
Read
story in the Evening Standard