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London 2012 chiefs set out major milestones
(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-04-05 09:45

 

The body responsible for delivering the London 2012 Olympic announced the completion of a major tunnel project on Wednesday and set out 10 key milestones to be reached before next year's Beijing Games.

The tunnel is a vital stage in the preparation of the 2.5 square kilometres site in east London, allowing power cables currently suspended by 52 pylons to be buried below ground.

The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), set up one year ago, said it was on target to clear and decontaminate the majority of the neglected industrial site before August 2008.

"In out first year we have hit every milestone on the project," David Higgins, the chief executive of the ODA, told reporters. "We now move to the next strategic phase 'Demolish, Dig, Design'

"This is an extremely challenging project, but by setting out the programme of work in a transparent way we believe we are breaking new ground for a project of this scale.

"We will be allowing people to judge progress for themselves."

The ODA also said bridges, roads and transport improvements would be well under way and venue designs finalised by the time the Olympic flag is handed over to London at the Beijing closing ceremony. Construction work on major venues is scheduled to begin the summer of 2008.

Milestones set out on Wednesday included the beginning of construction of the Olympic village and the handing out of design contracts for the Olympic Stadium, Aquatics Centre, VeloPark and International broadcast and Press Centre.

Last month the British government more than doubled the estimated cost of staging the Olympics to 9.3 billion pounds ($18.36 billion).

London's original bid estimated the cost of building the main Olympics infrastructure at around 3 billion pounds with another 1 billion earmarked for regeneration.

The news provoked fierce criticism from the opposition Conservative Party, who labelled it a sign of "massive financial incompetence".


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