Brown makes Olympics promise

Gordon Brown has pledged that the London 2012 Games will be on time and on budget.

On his first trip to the Olympic Park, the Prime Minister said there is a "determination" to keep a tight rein on the £9.3 billion budget and to garner public support for the event

On the third and final day of the International Olympic Committee's inspection visit, Mr Brown said: "I think that what people do want to know is that it is on budget and on time.

"We already started building this stadium three months ahead of schedule. It is plain that people such as the Olympic Delivery Authority (in charge of Olympic venue and infrastructure) are determined to come in on budget and on time."

He predicted the stadium will not be a white elephant, declaring it a "world class stadium that will leave a world class legacy for the future and we believe that this will be a world class Olympics that we will organise".

Mr Brown said that 75p of every pound will be spent on regenerating the area so that "this stadium, unlike other Olympic stadiums, will be used every day of the year" after the Games.

Visiting the site Denis Oswald, the IOC's co-ordination commission chairman, said: "The Olympic stadium is the heart of the Games and of course when you start preparing for the Games you do a lot of thinking, writing and drawing plans - it is not really anything spectacular.

"Then one day you see something coming out of the ground and something concrete and you realise the Games are taking shape.

"Today we can see the stadium emerging and what it is going to be and therefore it is a very good co-incidence that the committee have the chance to come to the Olympic Park."

This time last year the 40-acre site was covered by more than 180 factory and warehouse buildings.

Construction of the £500m arena had not been scheduled to start until August.

Now that tons of soil have been moved and the land has been cleared, the bowl of the 80,000-seater stadium can now clearly be seen taking shape.

Builders are now working towards making sure the project is completed by 2011.

London's new mayor Boris Johnson, visiting the Park for the first time, said: "I'm blown away by this.

"Anyone who has had anything to do with British builders will know what an astonishing achievement we are witnessing here today. This stadium is not just on time but three months early."

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