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Tokyo's new governor to probe into Olympic costs

Xinhua, August 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

Newly-elected Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike announced Tuesday that she will set up an investigative panel to assess the soaring costs of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

The capital's first female governor said on her first day in office that she will launch a new reform committee to consider organizational and budgetary changes, and the Olympic investigative panel will be under the committee.

The investigative panel will aim to deliver its interim findings next month, before the next ordinary session of the metropolitan assembly, said Koike.

Koike, along with other candidates in Tokyo gubernatorial race, had pledged in her campaign to keep the cost of hosting the Olympic Games "at an appropriate level and acceptable to the residents."

Estimated costs for Japan hosting the 2020 Olympic Games have skyrocketed, probably hitting 15 billion U.S dollars, six times its original estimate according to local reports.

The total costs for staging the games will be shared by the games' organizing committee, the Tokyo government and the central government.

Former Tokyo governor Yoichi Masuzoe had agreed in March with the head of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee and Japan's Olympic minister that Tokyo would cover more costs. Endit