London Latest - 2012 Games Under Budget; Olympic Park Handover Begins

(ATR) British sports minister Hugh Robertson says London 2012 has been "more open and transparent" than any previous Olympics, as he revealed Tuesday the cost of the Games will come in $603 million under the $15 billion budget.

"London 2012 was a tremendous success and it is a significant achievement to deliver this large and complex program on time and under budget," he said after publication of the government’s final quarterly economic report on the Games.

"The work of the construction and delivery teams, from the ODA and LOCOG, has set a very high standard and I have no doubt that London 2012 has set a new benchmark for the management of Olympic and Paralympic Games in future."

He added: "I do think we have been more open and transparent than any other Olympic and Paralympic Games has ever been."

But the report showed that there is an increase of $57 million in the cost of completing the Olympic Village largely because of a reassessment of the retrofit works post-Games.

Robertson dismissed the suggestion that any of the savings, which is taxpayer money, would be spent by his department or on the revamp of the Olympic Stadium to accommodate future tenants.

"It’s really important on this underspend to know that I’m not Smorg the dragon; this is not a pile of gold I’ve got stuck under my tail at the moment," he told reporters at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport briefing.

"It’s sitting in the Treasury, so if the mayor or anyone else wants to access it, they’d have to make their case to the chancellor."

Additional funds were released to LOCOG, but Robertson added that as they were a private company, the government allowed them to publish their accounts later than usual to include Games-time costs.

"They have a board meeting, their final one, in December and then they will publish their accounts in the New Year," he confirmed.

The economic report also showed a reduction in the final costs of policing and venue security programs, although it does not take into account any savings "from the enforcement of LOCOG’s contract with G4S". The private security firm failed to deliver enough staff to secure venues, forcing the government to recruit military personnel to plug the shortfall.

Olympic Park Handover Begins

LOCOG has started the handover of the Olympic Park to the London Legacy Development Corporation.

On Monday, the LLDC took operational control of the site ahead of a $466 million overhaul of the Games hub into what will be known as Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

In the six weeks since the Paralympic closing ceremony, LOCOG has removed much of the temporary overlayand phased handover dates for specific venues and spaces to the LLDC. The aquatics center, velodrome and basketball arena have now been handed over to LLDC, with the Copper Box to be handed over in November and the Olympic Stadium and press and broadcast centers following in December.

LOCOG is also preparing to hand over the Olympic Village to the Olympic Delivery Authority so that a large-scale retrofitting program can begin, transforming the 2,818 apartments and houses into East Village – a new community for London from 2013 onwards.

Sebastian Coe, LOCOG chair, said: "We have now begun the first chapter of the lasting legacy we promised when we bid for the Games. We began our work straight after the Games to transform the venues, parklands and facilities in the Olympic Park to ensure generations to come will benefit from a golden summer."

The legacy company’s huge construction program is called "Clear, Connect, Complete". It will clear Games-time overlay including temporary venues, walkways and stands, connect the park to the surrounding area with new roads and pathways and transform competition venues for legacy use.

The park will re-open in phases from July 27, 2013 – one year after the Olympic opening ceremony – as each piece of work reaches completion. The entire site is scheduled to open by spring 2014.

Reported by Christian Radnedge and Mark Bisson

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