Japan is set to scale back the main stadium it is building for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as the city Government is running out of money and time to complete the construction schedule.
The Ministry of Sports, Education and Science has released a statement saying that the planned roof that will be built across the top of the stadium would be scrapped and that a total of 80,000 seats would be removable which would cut the size of the stadium that was first planned.
Mr. Hakubun Shimoura who is the minster of Sports, Education and Science was quoted as saying that Tokyo should help pay at least 50 billion yen (￡266 million) of the 169 billion yen (￡900 million) that was first quoted as now the total estimate for the construction of the stadium. This has exceeded the Sports Ministries budget.
Shimoura told Mr. Yōichi Masuzoe the Governor of Tokyo that if the city helps pay the 50 billion yen it would benefit by getting a new stadium that could be used for national and international events well on after the Olympics has finished. He also guaranteed that the roof would be constructed after the event has passed and that the stadium would be ready for the Japanese Rugby World Cup in 2019.
Since the plans for the stadium where first published by the Ministry of Sports, Education and Science architects have criticized it as being too big and expensive. Now that it looks as the stadiums expenses would raise a new question that is being asked. Will the stadium would be ready for the Japanese Rugby World Cup in 2019 even though Mr. Hakubun Shimoura and Mr. Yōichi Masuzoe agree on the proposed bailout fee?
Now the Tokyo Olympic organizers are looking at ways to cut back the costs of the planned design so that they could have the stadium finished in time for the Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Olympics. As of February 2015 the International Olympic Committee has agreed to a proposed venue change to save money.
A statement from the ICO said that they would make use of the three existing venues for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, different than what was initially decided.
The Minister of Sports said that further details and a final count of the total costs would be released around the end of this month.