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With a little over 5 1/2 years to go until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, work to demolish the old Olympic stadium to make way for a new main stadium for the Games still hasn't started -- seven months behind schedule so far.
Demolition work was supposed to begin last July but the project has been plagued by bid-rigging suspicions.
Some of the bids were reviewed by someone in the decision committee before all bids were in, a violation of the rules, according to the Japan Sport Council, which owns the stadium.
Plans for the stadium, designed by award-winning British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, have been dogged by other problems, including complaints from some prominent architects, who say the design is too big and expensive.
The 80,000-seat, futuristic design to replace the National Stadium was initially projected to cost 130 billion yen, but the estimate quickly ballooned to more than double that.
There have been other problems in the bidding as well.
In the first round of bidding, announced last March, all the bids surpassed the estimated costs and were rejected in May. In June, it was found that some bids were lower than the level set as the standard. A month later, complaints of bid-rigging surfaced. But an internal investigation in July and August found no evidence of bid-rigging, the council said in a statement last month.
Demolition of the old stadium is likely to start in mid-January.
The 54,000-seat National Stadium, built in 1958, was used for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
The new stadium is scheduled to be completed by the summer of 2019 and will be used for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
© Japan Today/AP
15 Comments
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Knox Harrington
In Japan?! You don't say...
Onniyama
So! Work has barely begun getting people in Tohoku out of temporary housing. In fact, construction projects for the Games takes skilled labourers away from reconstruction. Makes me sick.
kwatt
They seem to take 6 years to demolish the old stadium. Take enough time!
StormR
Of course there was no evidence found by the internal investigation, how in the hell would they.
Speed
Last thing we need is another Brazil or Greece. Just start it already!
Laguna
It's not too late! Renovate the existing stadium as was done with the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1984. It would save money, be architecturally congruous, and, most importantly, have so much more meaning.
jerseyboy
And the tax-payers just keep getting screwed while the J-Inc. companies tight with the LDP and the bureaucrats just keep laughing all the way to the bank.
Americanhonor
This is not a big issue, the construction companies bidding for work are privately owned, there are more than enough to complete the work on time. The construction for the tohoku region is publicly governed thereby so called skilled workers for that project were never in line to build the olympic stadium, its a seperate issue. Bid rigging and bribery is common because most construction firms here are connected to organised crime syndicates. Naturally they compete heavily against one another and are most likely prepared to call in favours and or pay officials under the table. Nothing new here. The main thing is to build the stadium and build it well.
LFRAgain
Knox, you beat me to it.
Bid rigging in Japan?! Say it ain't so!!
Ian Robertson
Why is a new stadium needed? When so many people are still in temporary housing following the tsunami, surely there are better ways to spend this money. How embarrassing.
GW
I would be laughing except I know its my taxes that will pay for this SOB Olympics!
Bid rigging amakudari k/b etc etc good to see all that Japanese "Culture" is directly involved with the Olympics way to go Japan NOT!
smithinjapan
If Japan were not so corrupt on this front and politicians didn't have their fingers in the construction pie, I'd say ALL of the companies currently bidding for the contracts should be eliminated and banned from any construction of any venues for the Olympics, and they should offer a lower number to companies who have not yet come forward or who have come forward but were not put on the list because of the top government favorites. If there's corruption, don't reward it with contracts that are taking money from where it's needed. But, as said, this is Japan. Any internal investigation will be by the people who would suffer from finding guilt, so that will never happen, and they'll just wait a little longer before the companies -- which have the government by the short hairs -- will be allowed to do it at extremely high costs regardless of Japan's "compact budget".
WilliB
Laguna:
I agree, but would that not be a case of bait-and-switch? They won the tender with the promise of this super-duper new stadium, after all.
Fadamor
From what I hear, NOTHING is being taking away from the reconstruction because the towns haven't decided what they want rebuilt yet.
Mlodinow
The Olympics is not the only issue. The new stadium is also supposed to host the final of the Rugby World Cup in Sept 2019. So really they only have 4.5 years. It would be rather embarrassing for them to have to pull it seeing as they've already said it'll be used for the final.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-24853540