Tokyo`s 2016 Bidders Flex Financial Muscles

`Tokyo`s bid has no cash concerns,` Tokyo`s 2016 bid communications manager Masanori Takaya told Reuters on Saturday

Tokyo's 2016 Olympic bid has received a major boost after the city allocated an extra $1.1 billion for the Games in it's 2009 fiscal budget.

Tokyo's bid leaders insist the Japanese capital is best placed to emerge from the global financial crisis and host a debt-free Olympics in 2016.

The fresh cash injection of 100 billion yen takes Tokyo's contingency fund for the Games to 400 billion yen ($4.4 billion).

"Tokyo's bid has no cash concerns," Tokyo's 2016 bid communications manager Masanori Takaya told Reuters on Saturday.

"It is one of our strengths that even in the worldwide economic downturn we already have more than $4 billion in our hand. There will be no budget concerns for the Games."

Tokyo, the first Asian city to host the Olympics in 1964, faces competition from Chicago, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro in the race to stage the 2016 Summer Games.

Barack Obama's landslide victory in the U.S. presidential election last November was seen to give his home city of Chicago a boost in the bidding race.

However, Tokyo's bid officials believe they have the financial muscle and technical know-how to win the right to host the Olympics for a second time.

"It is further confirmation of our financial strength and security," Tokyo's bid chairman Ichiro Kono said of the increase in funds. "This is important in these difficult economic times."

Tokyo's overall 2009 budget proposal is 6.6 trillion yen (around $73 billion), which 2016 organisers called the largest fiscal budget of any metropolitan government in the world.

MAJOR FACELIFT

The city's investment package coincides with a 10-year plan to give the city a major facelift.

A new survey conducted by Tokyo officials indicated 70 percent support for the Olympic bid nationwide, significantly higher than in previous polls last year.

Backing for the Games from those living in Tokyo was a shade lower at 68.6 percent.

Despite the global credit crisis, a dozen major Japanese corporate sponsors have signed up for Tokyo's 2016 bid, including Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airlines, Asics and Descente.

The city's waterfront bid topped the International Olympic Committee's overall technical evaluation last June. Madrid earned the second highest marks.

Tokyo plans to build just five new venues for the 2016 Olympics, while renovating iconic facilities used at the 1964 Games.

"To ensure Tokyo 2016 maximises investment and delivers a long-term, inspirational legacy for future generations, its Games plan is highly sustainable," said Kono.

The bidding cities must submit a candidature file to the International Olympic Committee next month. The IOC will select the winner on Oct. 2. London will stage the 2012 Games.