(ATR) Even after cost cutting measures for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, Tokyo’s governor says new expenditures will be required to host the Games.
Tokyo Metropolitan Governor Yuriko Koike said she has proposed to the city government new expenditures directly related to staging the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.
According to AP, the new plan will require the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to contribute $13 billion for the Games, and the national government to contribute $1.4 billion. The Organizing Committee contribution remains at $5.5 billion. Late last year organizers said that the total costs for the Games from both organizing and non-organizing committee budgets would be under $13 billion.
Koike said that the new costs for the TMG were for "projects directly and indirectly related to the Games" including reducing barriers for Paralympic athletes, volunteer training, and advertising.
Tokyo 2020 organizers were not immediately available for comment.
Costs of the 2020 Olympics have been a thorny issue for the IOC and organizers throughout preparations. After Koike previously estimated costs could rise up to $30 billion and that venue locations should be reconsidered, the IOC quickly stepped in to control the situation. After multiple rounds of four-party talks, the under $13 billion budget was agreed upon, with the idea that further costs reductions would come.
Emails obtained by the AP show that the IOC believes the new costs presented by Koike are "regular administrative costs," and not part of the Olympics budget.
An IOC spokesperson in a statement to Around the Rings said the new costs were part of, "regular administrative costs that will cumulate in the 2020 fiscal year".
"It will be spent on legacy projects for the city, such as the promotion of barrier-free access around venues, undergrounding utility poles, and other similar areas, all of which are considered the regular administrative costs of government," the spokesperson said. "It therefore falls outside of the overall Games budget that Tokyo 2020, the TMG and the Japanese National Government reported to the IOC in December last year."
"We just presented the rough scale of the costs," Koike was reported as saying. "Tokyo will be the one to cover it, so I presented it because I wanted the Tokyo residents to be aware of it."
Homepage photo: Tokyo 2020
Written by Aaron Bauer in Seoul
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