Olympic cost breakdown to be unveiled

LONDON - The government is set to unveil its most detailed financial breakdown of the 2012 London Olympics on Monday in the wake of concerns about spiralling costs.

Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell and senior organisers will release a budget update after financial watchdogs urged planners to draw up detailed plans to ensure they had a grip on spending.

Jowell will detail the breakdown in a statement to the House of Commons later on Monday. This is expected to say the overall 9.3 billion pound bill has not risen since March, according to media reports.

The statement would also provide the most detailed breakdown on how money would be spent on Olympic venues and other key infrastructure in the east London precinct, the reports said.

Newspapers have said it would provide greater detail on how 500 million pounds of contingency funding had been spent.

However, the BBC reported on Monday that, despite ministers previously stating the budget was in order, the report would warn that there was a one in five chance the cost of operating the games could rise again.

Critics have lambasted Jowell for her handling of the budget which has more than doubled since London was named the 2012 host two-and-a-half years ago.

Fears over spiralling costs have soured the euphoria that gripped the British capital when it was awarded the Olympics.

A number of parliamentary committees, including the Culture, Media and Sport Committee last week, have voiced concerns over financial monitoring and preparations for the event.

Jowell said the government had put in place rigorous cost oversight procedures and said the Olympic Delivery Authority -- overseeing construction of Olympic venues -- had hit all its major milestones, including building tunnels to carry power lines to the Olympic Park.

Billions of pounds are being spent on building sports facilities and regenerating a swathe of Stratford.

The National Audit Office, which scrutinises public spending for parliament, recommended in July that organisers should draw up a detailed baseline for controlling the budget.