Total Costs for Tokyo Games May Reach 3 T. Yen

October 8, 2018

Tokyo- The total expenditures, including of the Japanese central and local governments, for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games may reach 3 trillion yen.

According to a survey by the Board of Audit of Japan, the central government already spent some 801.1 billion yen on a total of 286 state projects linked to the 2020 Games between fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2017. The amount of spending on most of these projects were disclosed for the first time.

It is necessary to sort out the detailed relations between the Tokyo Games and the projects, the audit board said, urging the Headquarters for the Promotion of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games to figure out and disclose the whole picture of spending.

In December 2017, the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games estimated the total costs for the 2020 Games at 1.35 trillion yen.

The committee and the Tokyo metropolitan government are slated to shoulder 600 billion yen each, while the central government is expected to be responsible for 150 billion yen, according to the committee's estimate.

In addition to the 600 billion yen, however, the metropolitan government is planning to spend 810 billion yen mainly on projects to improve facility accessibility for people with disabilities ahead of the Tokyo Paralympics.

The quadrennial sporting events may cost 3 trillion yen in total, with local governments other than Tokyo also expected to spend a lot of money.

The survey by the audit board also found problems with the implementation of some projects.

A total of 13 research and development projects of the sports ministry aimed at enhancing the functions of equipment to help Japanese athletes to win medals were suspended after 162 million yen was spent on them.

In a project to improve the system to prevent doping, the ministry secured only 269 inspectors as of the end of fiscal 2017, far short of the target number of some 500. Jiji Press