Alarm At 'Soaring Cost' Of London Olympics

MPs have expressed concern the London Olympics will go way over its £9.3bn budget - and said it was "staggering" the initial estimates about security costs were so wrong.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has also raised doubts about the Games' legacy and warned the Olympic Stadium in Stratford must not become a white elephant.

The Government says it is confident London 2012 will come in under budget.

PAC chair Margaret Hodge said: "The venues and infrastructure of the London Olympic Games are on track to be delivered on time and within budget.

"However, the £9.3bn public sector funding package is close to being used up and we are concerned about whether the running of the Games will be held within budget.

"Taking into account costs outside the package, the full cost to the public of the Games and legacy projects is already heading for around £11bn."

Mrs Hodge said the committee was particularly concerned about "significant" increases in the security bill.

Games organiser Locog 's original estimate for the number of security guards in and around the Olympic venues was 10,000 - a "finger in the air" figure, according to the PAC report.

The Government announced in December the number had more than doubled to 23,700, with security costs rising from £282m to £553m.

"Locog itself now has almost no contingency left to meet further costs, even though it has done well in its revenue generation," says the report.

On legacy, the PAC report raises concerns over sports participation targets and the future of the Olympic stadium after a deal for West Ham United Football Club to take it over was scrapped.

Alarm At 'Soaring Cost' Of London Olympics

The report states that with only 109,000 new people regularly involved in sport against the original 1m target - which the Coalition chose not to adopt.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has rejected the figure of £11bn as being the true cost of the Games and defended the legacy aims.

A DCMS spokesman said: "With 140 days to go until the Olympic Games, we are on time and under budget, with over £500m worth of uncommitted contingency remaining.

"As we told the PAC in December we do not recognise the figure of £11bn. We have always been transparent about what is included in the £9.3bn.

"The cost of purchasing the Olympic Park land will ultimately come back to the public purse through the resale of the land after the Games and was therefore not included.

"Funding for the legacy programmes, that the PAC refer to, comes from existing business-as-usual budgets and we have been clear about this. These are for projects designed to capitalise on hosting London 2012 but are not an additional Olympic cost."

The DCMS said the legacy included regenerating part of east London and that tenants have been secured for six out of eight venues on the Olympic Park.