London’s readiness for the 2012 Olympics has been tested by reality. On Tuesday, at a hearing in the parliamentary committee on culture, media and sports, the deputies announced that the implementation of a prestigious project could entail financial problems, deprive amateur sports of a significant part of the funding and not leave any heritage to the city. “The picture is extremely painful,” Nigel Evans, representative of the Conservative Party, admitted at the end of the hearing.
Most of all the deputies were worried about the question of whether preparations for the Olympic Games would go beyond budget. They wanted to get an answer from him from David Higgins, executive director of the Committee for the preparation for the Olympics, which controls the construction of Olympic facilities. But despite the fact that the chairman of the parliamentary committee, John Whittingdale, repeated this question several times, Higgins did not assure the deputies that everything was in order. Instead, he spoke of the need to modernize the East End.
The budget currently allocated for the construction of Olympic venues is £ 2.375 billion, and another 1.44 billion has been allocated to renew Stratford, an area in East London where major Olympic venues will be built.
After this verbal duel, Whittingdale admitted: “I could not find out from him whether 2.37 billion is enough to prepare for the Olympics. He evaded a direct answer. ”
The committee members also heard that the special Olympic lottery so far has brought only 60 million pounds out of the planned 750. And when the deputies asked what would happen if the necessary amount was not collected, Mike O'Connor, director of the Olympic Lottery Distributor, said that the government has the right to withdraw funds from the main sports lottery held in the UK. However, this will mean a reduction in funding for other sports.
One of the goals of the Olympics is to attract more people to sports, but Tim Lam, the head of the Central Council for Physical Education, which unites all sports organizations, warned parliamentarians: “The Olympic Games will deplete all of the UK’s resources for developing physical education. Amateur sports will be sacrificed. ”
And Bridget Simmons, chairman of the central council for physical education, warned that if action is not taken immediately, the 2012 London Olympics will be modeled on all previous Olympic Games, will not affect the popularization of physical education, and will not leave the city any heritage.
Deputies plan to keep the situation under control by holding such hearings at least once a year.
The Daily Telegraph, UK, 2006
MIHIR BOUZ