Tokyo to propose moving more venues for Olympics

TOKYO — A Tokyo government panel reviewing the cost of hosting the 2020 Summer Olympics is set to propose moving more venues outside of the city in order to save money.

Among the venues being reviewed are those for volleyball, swimming, rowing and canoe sprint, Kyodo news agency reported on Wednesday (Sept 28).

The panel was set up earlier this month by Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike, who is keen to reduce the ballooning costs.

Details of the proposed changes are expected to be made public Thursday at a meeting of a taskforce for metropolitan government reform.

Tokyo won the right to host the games by promising a compact bid with 28 of the 31 competition venues within an 8km radius of the Olympic and Paralympic Village.

Originally, only shooting, modern pentathlon and one football venue were to be outside the radius.

Already, venues for basketball, taekwondo and cycling have been shifted outside of Tokyo to maximise existing facilities. Cycling was moved to Izu, some 145km southwest of the Japanese capital.

Tokyo 2020 organising committee president Yoshiro Mori acknowledged in July that the cost of building seven temporary venues for the Olympics has surged to an estimated US$2.6 billion (S$3.53 billion), up from an initial estimate of US$690 million.

Mr Mori said the original figures were the result of sloppy calculations which he blamed on the Tokyo metropolitan government and the Japanese Olympic Committee.

The organising committee has not disclosed an official estimate of the overall costs but has acknowledged it will be considerably higher than the US$3.5 billion that was forecast in the bid.

Preparations for the 2020 Games have been plagued by a series of scandals involving the new national stadium, the official logo and allegations of bribery in the bidding process.

Work on the new national stadium has fallen behind schedule because the government abandoned an original design amid spiraling costs.

The total costs for staging the Tokyo Olympics are shared by the organising committee, the Tokyo municipal government and the national government. AP