Cost of London Olympics just keeps rising

The government today announced their revised budget for the cost of the 2012 Olympics, £9.3billion up from the original £2.4billion they said just over 18 months ago. The big questions are can they stick to that budget over the next five years, and you can pretty much guarantee they can’t, and who will end up paying for it.

At the moment they’re raiding the profits for the National Lottery which were supposed to be off limits and set aside for local projects such as youth and sports centres. They say that the local council tax that Londoners pay won’t be increased again to contribute more to the Olympics, but they’re going to review the way they calculate council tax, basing it on the rising value of property and a little extra Olympic supplement could be tacked onto that no doubt.

One things for sure there’s an absolute deadline for when this project has to be finished and the contractors and builders of all the Olympic arenas have the government over a barrel when it comes to asking for more money to ensure the games can start on time. £9.3billion will not be the final figure for very long and a lot of people are starting to think having the Olympics is a real bad idea.