The Zohan

Call me old fashioned - misled - doesn't that mean lied to or deceived?

Poor show and yet again we all have to pay for it.


By Sky News SkyNews - Tuesday, April 22 09:28 am

The British public have been "grossly misled" and the original estimate for the Olympic Games was "totally unrealistic", according to an influential group of MPs.

The less-than-complimentary assessment levelled at the organisers of the London 2012 games was published by the Public Accounts Committee.

The group of cross-party MPs monitor the way taxpayers' money is spent.

"We were told it (the 2012 Olympic Games) was going to cost us £4bn and it's going to cost us £9.3bn," said the committee's chairman Edward Leigh MP.

"I don't think there's any certainty that despite the huge contingency fund built into that £9bn, we're going to stick to that either."

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Olympic Delivery Authority assured the committee that the revised budget will not be exceeded.

The report picks out a number of factors that led to the estimate being so wide of the mark.

There was no initial contingency fund set aside. In other words, no allowance was made for the possibility of overspending.

The security and policing allowance was minimal. And the government didn't take into account inflation and VAT.

There are also unanswered questions as to who will pay for the legacy the games will leave.

Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell responded to the report saying: "I made clear prior to our winning the bid that if we did win then we'd have to undertake a thorough cost review because at that stage there were many uncertainties."

The issue now is that given such a gross miscalculation, can we trust the Government to deliver an Olympic Games on time and on budget?

:: The Metropolitan Police said security for the Beijing Olympic torch relay through London cost almost £750,000.


Tessa Jowell (one of NL's premier league assclowns) - you may have 'made it clear' luv - you did however forget all about the VAT and factor in any inflationary or land costs over the period to 2012 - hardly due diligence is it. Smacks of getting it at any cost and fudging the figures to look attractive, then worrying about it later when it is too late to back out or do anything except take it on the chin.

£ 750,000 for the torch relay - disgusting - could have kept Prescnutt in pies for a year!

SJ_Skyline

Tessa Jowell has an excellent handle on financial affairs, after all, she helped her (ex?)husband David Mills launder £340k of Berlusconi's money through their mortgage. I can think of no safer hands to handle the olympics!

stilover

Read this the other day.

And people wonder why the Government keep raising taxes. Finding ways to Fine people. Not doing anything about the rising cost of petrol/Diesel.

Was reading the other day, the Government are getting about £117m extra A WEEK from all these petrol price rises. And they are still planning on pushing through the 2p duty rise in October.

They must be rubbing there hand. All this extra money to pay for an Olympic games that no one really wanted in the first place.

PeteBrant

I agree with the Plympic games coming to Britian, I think it's a big deal and we should be proud to be hosting them.

However, why the accounting couldn't be clear from day one is beyond me. The games will benefit a huse number of people and regenerate areas of the country that would never get it otherwise.

We didn't *need* to be misled.

ChrisB

If I went to my boss and told him I'd "forgotten" about VAT and such other glaringly obviously things for a major project, I'd be down the Job Centre in minutes with my P45.

Oh well, it's only another five billion quid.

mal_howarth

"Regenerate areas of the country"

You mean London as usual ?

If regeneration over large parts of the country is required then they should be staged in the middle as Wembley should have been it would also cost less for land etc and more than likely would not have needed de-contamination first

Same old same old London the be all and end all

It's a disgrace

PeteBrant

I do mean London - Why, does because it is London does that mean it shouldn't happen?

Of course there are plenty of other areas of the country that need regeneration, but, you are never going to please everyone. Just because it's London doesn mean its need is any less or more than anywhere else.

I don't live in London, but I'm as pleased that its going there as I would if it were going to Birmingham or Manchester etc - The important thing is that it is coming to Britain, and that an enourmous amount of people will benefit.

You only need look at Barcelona to see what a change the Olympics coming to town can have.

The Zohan

Absolutely Chris, in the real world thats just it, game over. It all just feels to me like we where misled/deceived about the costs, or it could just be Tessa and the team of people put together because of their strengths and abilities to win bids got it completely wrong and forgot some very basic, straight forward and every day considerations.

it all stinks, the whole mess.

And when more money is required - you can hear it now "Well we are 90% down the line with the project and cannot pull out, national pride, etc so another xxx billion will not matter. Well it does and these incompetents should be bought to book. It is our money and they do not seem to have much of a clue.

Me i would rather see it spent in and on communities and projects that will benefit the country as a whole. Yes i know there are projects outside of London but the bulk of the regeneration and money is being spent there is it not. I do wonder how many other projects in other areas have been shelved of binned so far and how many more will need to be due to money...


London or rights and wrongs of where it is too be held and who benefits aside and to keep this on track it is about either one of the worse cases of incompetence ever or being deceived - one or the other. What do you think?

unclebuck

They should scrap it now before it's too late. It was always bound to descend into a farce of corruption - look at the people who a in charge of running it.

What a pointless waste of what little money there is left.

David Lock

Yeah right

They're having a giraffe.

Mark my words, it'll be circa £20b by the time they've finished. dl

Prasius

iTrader: (1)

Hasn't LA only finally finished paying for the 1984 Olympics a couple of years ago?

MJW

I don't see what the fuss is about, this is just typical of any large construction project. The tender price and the actual cost of building it can differ vastly (irrespective of bid-rigging). Besides, the project will pay for itself with the additional tourism brought in.

The Zohan

The fuss is about obvious stupid mistakes in the bidding process or maybe an attept to mislead.
OR
is it common practice to forget all about the VAT, not allow for inflation or an increase in land prices on a 6+ year project.

How can you know it will pay for itself exactly when the figures are still not really known and where is the evidence to back this up?

professionals - feckwits and gloryhunters more like!

I am not trying to be kill-joy but am getting a little a but sick and tired of being told it will be alright on the night and not to worry as it is all covered by the very peole who fcuked it up in the first place - not seen much evidence of things going to plan so far tbh

Simon C

And some of our laws require changing or the govt will have to turn round to the olympic committee and say some of the events wont be held and if competitors come over they will be arrested.

PeteBrant

Good lord no - That was one of the most profitable games in history

The real big new cost is security - Athens ran at $1.5 billion just on security - Pretty much the same as all the other modern olympic games put together - One would imagine that London is going to dwarf that.

s70rjw

iTrader: (2)

How can we be surprised when NL continuallly lie. This time to fund a hearty party for themselves when the event arrives...

MJW

Large, expensive cockups are par for the course for most tenders. Design & site conditions can't all be nailed down until the job's underway which also adds to the costs.
Olympics in previous countries have been very profitable you could check the figures for those for evidence.

unclebuck

I would...

Especially since New Labour made the UK the number one Islamic terrorist target in the world after Blair's glory seeking illegal 'crusades'...

ScoobyWon't

Surely it'd take at least 4 weeks for your P45 to arrive. Meanwhile the Olympic costs have multipled again Still, if you go on the dole, at least you will not be paying for the games. That gives me an idea...

The Zohan

MJW
With respect you gloss over the facts.

VAT - Forgotten
Inflation - Forgotten
Land values - forgotten

one could say "conveniently forgotten"

Hardly minor in insignificant and could not even be considered as ****-ups.

They are basic requirments arn't they, surely?

Histrionics as a way of guaging profitability - OK, when the costs have already doubled and there is no way of knowing what other increses we are likey to see that is not exactly promising start is it.

The Zohan

Mayor Ken in Olympics bid revelation - Yahoo! News UK

not really sure what to make of his comments other than yet more lies and deception.

In some ways i admire him wanting to redevelop the east end but at what cost to the rest of the country and why not get private investors involved instead of expecting all of the country to fund.

The money is coming from central gov't which means us all - or am i harbouring under a misconception?

stilover

But you're not seeing the big picture. We all pay for these games, that Government statistics showed that we all wanted. NL also informed us that these games would bring real benefits to the whole country. Businesses would thrive with the extra income from the games.

What they meant was London Businesses will benefit while tax payers living anywhere else but London will be worse off. In fact Londoners will all be worse off to. Unless they own a Business that will benefit from the extra tourists.

£20 says every terrorist organisation is planning something to disrupt the games.

Leslie

To make such a forecast for the cost of the games in the first place and then to "discover" that it will actually cost so much more (at the present estimate!) is just incredible. It can mean only one of two things. Either the planning in the first place was utterly incompetent, or that it was a deliberate act after the fashion of Jean Monnet, ie to federate us into the Eu over a period of time so that we dont notice it and eventually accept it! This of course would be an act of gross deception! I also expect it to go up to £20 billion eventually.

It seems now that this egregious bunch running the country have no shame whatsoever and will either continuously tell us lies (what's new?) or let the worst happen and just smile smugly and not care about it anyway. Flash only changed the compensation for the 10% tax allowances loss because he was forced into it by Old Labour and thought he was going to lose the vote in the commons. He is now trying to make us believe that he is being so helpful to the poorly paid among us. I think however that when the facts emerge, as ever, it will not be a significant help anyway.

To say that they are beyond the pale is a big understatement but accurate!

Les

David Lock

Scottish Parliament Buildings. Estimate £50m

Final Cost £414m

Say no more

The Zohan

does smack of getting an agreement first and then getting people to swallow the bitter pills/sh*t sandwiches afterwards when there is little that can be done

8x overrun is just farcical really...

David Lock

Don't mention the Dome

MJW

I'm not glossing over the facts, just stating that tender stage ****-ups in pricing are very commonplace for large projects and costs invariably overrun. I agree it smacks of gross stupidity and am not defending the idiots who put the package together. Just look at any school / university / hospital PFI project and you'll see this isn't an isolated incident.

The Zohan

Cool and i am sure there are variables ans the odd error.
Would anyone at your company for instance who forgot such basics as VAT, Inflation and land costs be allowed to remain in their job? - lets not forget that we are talking billions of pounds here. These are not little niggles or abnormal considerations. You would have thought it would have been on a check list and/or part of the PM software.

David Lock

But the real fun will only get started as it gets close to the opening date. Construction workers wanting triple time to work 24/7 to finish the job "or else guv". Then a few bomb threats doubling the security cost. And finally a herd of Great Crested Newts found nesting in the middle of the track (next to the bat colony)

MJW

Unfortunately PM software is only as good as the gimp entering info into it ! No doubt heads will roll, but only those lower down the chain of command of course.