Working-Level Talks Held on Costs for 2020 Tokyo Games

Tokyo, Jan. 18 (Jiji Press)--The Tokyo metropolitan government, the Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee and the Japanese state government held on Wednesday working-level talks on sharing costs for hosting the 2020 Tokyo Games. At the meeting, the three parties agreed to start full-scale talks after working groups set up each in six prefectures that will host sports events other than Tokyo make reports on costs for building tentative facilities for the events in mid-February. Because the cost issue for event facilities that will be demolished after the 2020 Games has been a focal point in the three-way discussions on the budget for the games, the parties will wait for the reports without holing a top-level meeting, which was expected to take place this month, people familiar with the matter said. For the construction of the tentative facilities, the committee should in principle shoulder the entire costs. But last December it proposed that it cover 80 billion yen of the total costs of 280 billion and the capital, the state and the six prefectures share the rest. Heads of the prefectures reacted harshly to the proposal, demanding the committee abide by the principle. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike aims to draw up an outline on cost-sharing by the end of March, but the prefectures, including Miyagi and Kanagawa, are still refusing to share the costs. The closed working-level meeting was attended by Toshiro Muto, director-general of the organizing committee, Vice Tokyo Governor Tatsumi Ando and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kazuyuki Furuya. END