Going for gold
Beijing Initial budget: $40.9 billion for “city development, infrastructure, transport systems and ecology” and $1.9 billion on construction facilities Final cost: The Beijing games were billed as “the most expensive to date” largely due to Beijing’s basic infrastructure needs and a steep increase in commodity prices, but still came in over budget. Interesting fact: […]
Beijing
Birdnest Stadium, Beijing, under construction in the build up to the 2008 games.
Initial budget: $40.9 billion for “city development, infrastructure, transport systems and ecology” and $1.9 billion on construction facilities
Final cost: The Beijing games were billed as “the most expensive to date” largely due to Beijing’s basic infrastructure needs and a steep increase in commodity prices, but still came in over budget.
Interesting fact: In 2008 a report was launched after an article in The Sunday Times alleged 10 construction workers had died onsite during the Birdnest Stadium project and other workers instructed not to talk about the deaths. China vehemently denied a cover up and launched an investigation, which confirmed there had been six deaths over the last five years; two of the fatal accidents took place at the Birdnest site.
At the peak of the project it was recorded there were 17,000 workers on site.
