Japan’s Abe announces redo for costly Tokyo Olympic stadium
TOKYO — In a major reversal, Japan’s leader announced Friday that the plans for the main stadium for the 2020 Olympics will be redone because of spiraling costs.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (R) speaks to reporters after meeting with Yoshiro Mori (not in picture), the president of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee of Olympic and Paralympic games, at Abe's official residence in Tokyo July 17, 2015. Photo: Reuters
TOKYO — In a major reversal, Japan’s leader announced Friday that the plans for the main stadium for the 2020 Olympics will be redone because of spiraling costs.
As a result, the stadium won’t be completed in time for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, as planned, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.
“We have decided to go back to the start on the Tokyo Olympics-Paralympics stadium plan, and start over from zero,” Mr Abe told reporters after a meeting at his office with Yoshiro Mori, chairman of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee.
The government has come under growing criticism as the estimated cost for the new National Stadium rose to 252 billion yen (S$2.7 billion).
“I have been listening to the voices of the people for about a month now, thinking about the possibility of a review,” Mr Abe said.
The prime minister said he had obtained the consent of Mori, a former prime minister, and instructed the sports and Olympics ministers to start preparing immediately a process to choose a new plan. AP
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