The Hindu : Sport / Generalia : British Sports minister offers support

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 30, 2005

Sport

Sport - Generalia

British Sports minister offers support

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 29. The British Minister for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell offered to share the experience of staging the Manchester Games so that India would be able to host the best ever Commonwealth Games in 2010.

"We have the know-how, and it would have cost us less if we had it before. It is important to share that experience of how Manchester was regenerated and pass on the lessons'', said the British Minister here on Tuesday, after a luncheon meeting with the Union Sports Minister. Sunil Dutt.

Appreciating that Delhi could possibly have the wonderful opportunity to have a hat-trick of hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2010, the Asian Games in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016 or 2020, Tessa Jowell drew attention towards London's strong bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games.

"We have the planning in place, all the land is ready and the money is on the table'', she said, emphasising that London was better prepared as compared to Athens.

"The cost of Athens over shot because the planning was slow, the budget was not properly tested and the government support was not properly established or translated. The cost of security was badly hit by the September 11 incident'', she said.

London has a budget of about 30 million pounds for the bid, and plans to host the Games with a budget of 4.7 billion pounds. The income from TV rights etc. is tipped to be two million, and about 1.5 billion is expected to be raised through an Olympic lottery that will start if London clinches the bid on July 6 when the IOC meets in Singapore.

The minister stressed that the Games would be very light on the people of London, who will be the principal beneficiaries, as each will be paying a mere 38 pence a week per head for 10 years. The part of London where the Games are scheduled has 200 nationalities and 300 languages, with 40 per cent of the population below 25 years of age.

"All the feedback is very positive. We are up against great cities, but ours is a bid to watch'', she said, expressing hope that India would support the London bid.

The British minister, who said that UK was keen to have a co-production treaty with the Indian film world and offer tax exemption, is scheduled to meet the Minister for Information, Broadcasting and Culture, Jaipal Reddy, and the members of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Wednesday.

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