Olympics: Tokyo Games might cost $15 bln, 6 times orginal estimate – reports

The cost of staging the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will hit nearly $15 billion — six times the original estimate, Japanese media have reported.

In a fresh blow to Tokyo’s plans for the Games, both national and local taxpayers will have to help foot the huge increase in the bill to stage the sporting event, the Sankei Shimbun said Saturday.

The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Tokyo government expect the eventual cost of holding the Games to be 1.8 trillion yen ($14.84 billion), compared with the original estimate of 301.3 billion yen, Kyodo News said on Friday.

The revised estimate was made last month, national broadcaster NHK said.

Rising personnel and material cost are largely to blame, the Sankei said.

However, the higher cost of building temporary sports facilities, renting existing properties, constructing temporary infrastructure and additional security measures were also cited as factors by local media.

The estimated cost compares with the organising committee’s expected revenue of 450 billion yen from ticket sales and sponsorship, the Sankei and NHK said.

Tokyo’s plans for the Olympics have already hit a number of hurdles, including the scrapping of the design for the new Olympic stadium as costs soared. The fiasco saw the sports minister quit in September.