Olympics chiefs in plea for bail-out

THE Olympic Delivery Authority will ask Alistair Darling for a bail-out of several hundred million pounds as it seeks to keep the building of 2012 venues on track.

The agency needs emergency funds after private investment in the 2012 media centre and Olympic village evaporated in the credit crunch.

It will request extra cash from a £1billion contingency fund within the overall £9.3billion Games budget which is controlled by the Funders' Committee chaired by the Chancellor. The £380million media centre faces a shortfall of £160million - the amount that private developers Igloo failed to raise.

As far as the village is concerned, there is still no prospect of developer LendLease raising its £450million share of the £900million cost.

If the release of funds is approved then Olympic chiefs could be faced with the worrying prospect of about half of the contingency fund having been spent with three and a half years still to go until the start of the Games.

The £1billion was set aside for unforeseen risks such as a sudden economic downturn. There is another £1billion pot available for risks specific to individual building projects.

The media centre has been subject to a major design review. The ODA is expected largely to stick to its plan to build it in Hackney Wick with a final plan to be announced next month before building starts in the spring.

Evening Standard has learned that cost-cutting proposals to relocate part of the Olympic media centre to the Stratford City shopping complex look certain to be abandoned. The ODA last year began talks with Australian developer Westfield to house about 10,000 print journalists - half the total media contingent - in temporary workspace at the shopping centre which will be completed in 2011. But Games chiefs are set to conclude that a move would not make significant cost savings.

Olympics minister Tessa Jowell has led attempts to save the original plan for a "digital hub" in Hackney Wick which it is hoped will create up to 10,000 jobs as a key legacy of the Games.

An ODA spokesman said: "While we have been exploring other options and discussions are continuing with Westfield about office development, the base case has always been for a main press centre facility in Hackney. This process is nearly complete but no final decision has yet been taken."