TOKYO (AP) – Japan’s government approved a plan Friday for a nearly 150 billion yen ($1.5 billion) contract with a joint venture to build a new main stadium for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Officials said the stadium construction would begin in December, more than a year after an earlier plan was scrapped because of spiraling costs and an unpopular design.
The Japan Sport Council, a government-funded organization operating the project, said the stadium was scheduled for completion at the end of November, 2019, but still five months behind schedule. The delay had forced a venue change for the Rugby World Cup that Japan is also hosting just before that.
The cost of an earlier design by the late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid had risen to 265 billion yen ($2.65 billion), more than twice the initial forecast.
The 150 billion ($15 billion) contract is just below the 155 billion ($15.5 billion) ceiling set this time for the contractors, a joint venture among Taisei Corp., Azusa Sekkei Co. and the office of Kengo Kuma, an architect who designed the new stadium.