LONDON: The 2012 London Olympics will not escape the austerity measures imposed by Britain`s new coalition government, the minister responsible for the Games told AFP in an interview.
When his Conservative Party was in opposition, Hugh Robertson attacked the way the Games budget almost quadrupled from an initial 2.4 billion pounds quoted in 2005 when London won the right to host the Olympics.
And the massive project`s current 9.3-billion-pound (11-billion-euro, 14.2-billion-dollar) budget has attracted envious looks from Robertson`s party since it formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats following the May elections.
Prime Minister David Cameron`s administration has launched a drastic cost-cutting programme as it attempts to cut the record 154.7-billion-pound deficit it inherited from the previous Labour government.
Robertson, the Sport and Olympics Minister, told AFP that while the rest of Britain was being asked to tighten their belts, the Games could not expect to escape without making any cuts.
"The Olympics is happening against the backdrop of the largest peacetime budget deficit this country ever had so you can argue that the Olympics has to play its part in paying off the national debt," said the 47-year-old former soldier.
The new government wasted no time in making small cuts to the Olympic pot. It was barely in power when it cut 27 million pounds from the annual budget -- although that is a drop in the ocean in such an extensive project.
But in line with the current economic climate, savings were already being made before the election.
The Olympic Delivery Authority, the body charged with building the Olympic venues, revealed it had saved 100 million pounds in the second quarter of the year, part of an overall total of 700 million pounds of savings.
Robertson warns that the purse strings could be tightened even further in the government`s comprehensive spending review to be published on October 20, although he refuses to give any details of where cuts could come.
"I don`t know where it`s going to land," he said.
"It`s absolutely a decision the government is ready to make but clearly we have to make it in concert with our delivery partners who are the organising committee and ultimately the IOC (International Olympic Committee)."
Yet Robertson stresses that any cuts must not affect London`s ability to host the Games.
"We have to be very careful to make sure that we are not doing anything to the project that would imperil its safe delivery," he said.
In truth, no one expects the showpiece venues -- the main Olympic Stadium, the Aquatics Centre or the Velopark -- to be affected.
As Robertson explains, the 27 million pounds were saved through "smarter procurements, through savings on some temporary venues, and on specifications of the broadcast media centre."
"You won`t notice it at all," he said.
When London scored a surprise victory over Paris to win the right to host the Games five years ago, no one could have imagined the severe economic downturn that was to come.
But Robertson says the economic benefits of creating the Olympic facilities during such a period should not be overlooked either.
"It would be very easy just to say it shouldn`t come at this particular time but actually having London 2012 has been a huge boom during an economic recession.
"Because if you lay on a massive public sector building project that keeps all the construction firms in work and they don`t have to lay people off.
"So actually, it`s been a really good thing to have at a time of economic recession. It`s been a very considerable boost."
BDST: 1331hrs, July 23, 2010
