London 2012 officials admit they could go over budget

LONDON -The London Olympics could go over its 9.3 billion pound (US$19.1 billion; euro12.9 billion) budget.

John Armitt, the chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority, told a British parliamentary committee Tuesday that the 2.7 billion pound (US$5.5 billion; euro3.7 billion) fund set aside for budget overruns may not be enough.

Armitt said the ODA, which is responsible for building the venues and infrastructure for the 2012 Games, was sticking to tight budgets, but he couldn't promise there would not be overruns.

"If you say to me do I guarantee absolutely that this is going to happen, no I couldn't do that," Armitt told the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Committee investigating Olympic costs.

In March, the British government announced the budget for building the Olympic venues and regenerating east London had increased to 9.3 billion pounds (US$19.1 billion; euro12.9 billion) from the 3 billion pounds (US$6.1 billion; euro4.1 billion) estimated in the bid documents.

Part of that new budget was the 2.7 billion pound (US$5.5 billion; euro3.7 billion) contingency.

"We expect a substantial part of the contingency to be spent on a program of this complexity," ODA chief executive David Higgins said. "Clearly we want to minimize the expenditure."

Olympics Minist

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