Olympics budget to be finalised after bid process
Calistus Kolantsho | Friday August 10, 2018 12:14
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will reveal the winning bid in October, with four African countries, Botswana, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia, in contention to host the first ever Youth Olympics on the continent.
BNOC chief executive officer, Tuelo Serufho told Mmegi Sport this week that the budget would only be finalised with the IOC during the co-constructions phase, which comes soon after the awarding of the bid.
Government is expected to sign a guarantee letter by August 17, 2018, which commits the country to the bidding process. Argentina’s Buenos Aires are the hosts of this year’s Youth Olympic Games and the proposed budget was $104.69 million (about P1 billion).
The IOC financial contribution to the budget would amount to approximately $13.8 million, which is 13% of the budget.
The overall budget for the 2018 games include all investments in permanent infrastructure directly related to the celebration of the Youth Olympic Games, the majority of which is allocated to the construction of the Youth Olympic Village. “It is a world level event with 207 countries competing. The cost is smaller when compared to winter Olympic Games. Russia spent $50 billion during the Sochi 2014 winter Olympics,” Serufho said. He said the IOC covers part of the budget and the rest could be split across ministries and they can cover that over the next three financial years.
“In fact, they would not need additional allocations, but just re-prioritisation. The good thing is that most of the costs go towards making the lives of Batswana better,” he said.
Serufho said the BNOC expenditure would be effectively be matched by the sum of IOC contribution and tourist spend by Games time. “The Games should lead to a spike in tourist numbers. Singapore had 39, 000 tourists during the games in 2010. Singapore had a budget of $106 million, which was initially set aside to cover the cost of staging the Games, but by 2010, spending had more than tripled to $387 million,” he said.