The decision was made at a meeting today of the Cabinet led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Indian capital.

 

Rising costs for the opening and closing ceremonies and the increase in the number of days for the Queen’s Baton Relay - it is twice the length for this games as for previous editions and has grown from 136 to 240 days for the international leg and from 60 to 100 days for the domestic leg. - were some of the reasons for the increased budget, it was claimed.
 
The Delhi 2010 Games, which run from October 3-14, are already the most expensive Commonwealth Games in history with an infrastructure and organising budget of $2 billion (£1.2 billion).
 
The previous edition in Melbourne in 2006 cost $1.1 billion (£663 million).

 

The extra money is supposed to be a loan to the organising committee and be repaid after the Games and does not include the cost of building new venues and upgrading existing ones for the biggest multiple-sport event staged in the country since the 1982 Asian Games.
 
Ambika Soni, the Information and Broadcasting Minister said: "The Cabinet approved the proposal of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports for providing a revised budget as loan to the organising committee of the Commonwealth Games, 2010, at the prevailing Government rate of interest.

 

"It has been felt important to increase the amount because of the inclusion of new items that are essential for the successful delivery of the Games that were not provided in the initial budget,"

 

According to Soni, the it is hoped that the event will make a profit of approximately $363 million (£219 million).

 

Besides the Queen's Baton Relay, which started at Buckingham Palace in London last week, other factors that contributed to the increase included ranged from accreditation, city operations, sponsorship and television rights, security, sustainability and environment, ticketing, rent for offices and risk-management insurance.

 

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]

 

 

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