Japan spends more than 2 billion USD to build stadium for 2020 Olympics

(Baonghean.vn)- On Monday, June 29, Japanese Sports Minister Hakubun Shimomura said that the government has reached an agreement with two domestic construction companies to build a "national stadium" in Tokyo to prepare for the Winter Olympics to take place in 2020. And the cost of construction is estimated to be more than 250 billion yen (equivalent to more than 2 billion USD).

Model of the national stadium in Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics, photo AFP

Speaking to the press, Mr. Shimomura announced, “The project is worth up to 252 billion yen. Of which, about 20 billion yen will be mobilized from private capital to reduce the tax burden for the people.” It is worth noting that the cost of building the stadium has increased by 90 billion yen compared to the previous estimate. It is known that in 2012, in the design competition to build the Tokyo 2020 stadium, British architect Zaga Hadid won this project with a cost of 162.5 billion yen.

After being approved, the project was met with a series of criticisms for its increased costs and architecture. In response to strong reactions from public opinion, the Ministry of Sports decided to reduce the scale of the project to reduce costs and save time. Compared to the original design, the stadium will remove the retractable roof and reduce the number of seats in the stands from 80,000 to 65,000. And according to the plan, the construction of the stadium will start in October 2015 and end in May 2019.

Chu Thanh - according to Le Monde June 29