London Olympics Cost $603 Million Below Plan, Government Says

The London Olympics will come in 377 million pounds ($603 million) under budget after lower than anticipated transport, security and infrastructure costs, the U.K. government said.

The London Olympic and Paralympic Games probably cost 8.921 billion pounds, the U.K. Department for Culture, Media and Sport said in an e-mailed statement today. That’s below the 9.3 billion pounds estimated in 2007, when the government was forced to triple the original spending plan after underestimating the expense of cleaning up the Olympic Park site and building sports venues.

London had won the right to host the capital city’s third games in 2005. The 2008 Beijing Olympics cost $67 billion.

“London 2012 was a tremendous success and it is a significant achievement to deliver this large and complex program on time and under budget,” Minister for Sport Hugh Robertson said in the statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Danielle Rossingh at the London sports desk at drossingh@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Elser at celser@bloomberg.net