Japan OKs $1.5 billion contract for new Tokyo stadium

FILE – In this Jan. 15, 2016, file photo, Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, left, speaks about his design of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics stadium, background, during a press conference in Tokyo. Japan’s government approved on Friday, Sept. 30, 2016, a plan for a nearly 150 billion yen ($1.5 billion) contract with a joint venture to build a new main stadium for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The stadium construction will begin in December, more than a year after an earlier plan was scrapped due to spiraling cost and an unpopular design. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

TOKYO — Japan’s government approved a plan Friday for a nearly 150 billion yen ($1.5 billion) contract with a joint venture to build a new main stadium for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Officials said the stadium construction would begin in December, more than a year after an earlier plan was scrapped because of spiraling costs and an unpopular design.

The Japan Sport Council, a government-funded organization operating the project, said the stadium was scheduled for completion at the end of November, 2019, but still five months behind schedule. The delay had forced a venue change for the Rugby World Cup that Japan is also hosting just before that.

The cost of an earlier design by the late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid had risen to 265 billion yen ($2.65 billion), more than twice the initial forecast.

The 150 billion ($15 billion) contract is just below the 155 billion ($15.5 billion) ceiling set this time for the contractors, a joint venture among Taisei Corp., Azusa Sekkei Co. and the office of Kengo Kuma, an architect who designed the new stadium.

Olympic Minister Tamayo Marukawa told reporters she would ensure the steady progress of the construction.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said she would closely watch the expensive project that the city is also part-funding. “For the burden we have to share, I will ensure it’s utilized for the people of Tokyo, and raise my voice when necessary,” she said.

The stadium delay is part of Japan’s trouble-plagued preparation for the Olympics, underscoring a widespread lack of cost-control. The Japanese organizers have also faced a bribery scandal. They are now also bracing for a possible delay in the construction of roads linking the main Olympic venues near a new fish market project, which has been hit by a construction scandal and tainted underground water.

The Tokyo metropolitan government is currently reviewing the ballooning cost because of concern about its financial burden and the impact on Tokyo taxpayers.

The city-appointed panel of outside experts warned in a report Thursday that the total cost could exceed 3 trillion yen ($30 billion) without a drastic cost-cutting effort, and suggested using existing facilities instead of building new ones that could likely end up as white elephants./rga