Building boom could up costs of 2010 games - Canadian Press, CTV.ca
VANCOUVER - The head of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic organizing committee is warning the region's building boom could escalate construction costs for Games venues between 40 and 50 per cent.
Chief executive officer John Furlong told a Vancouver Board of Trade meeting Friday that Games organizers have managed to cut about $85 million from their $620-million capital costs -- of which about $470 million was earmarked for construction -- by revamping some venue designs.
'We're in a frenzied marketplace for construction,'' he said. 'We've been told that at this minute there are something on the order of $70 billion to $75 billion worth of construction projects that are on the books for the next three years in this region of British Columbia.''
The organizing committee -- know as VANOC -- is worried about future labour availability and the cost of key materials such as steel and concrete as it tenders the major contracts starting for Vancouver and Whistler venues next spring.