LONDON (AP) — British Olympic officials have dramatically increased the amount of money allocated for securing the venues for the 2012 London Games.
Olympics minister Hugh Robertson says an additional 271 million pounds ($424 million) has been allocated to making venues and other sensitive sites, such as hotels, more secure.
Officials had previously said they had planned to spend 280 million pounds ($438 million) on security. Monday’s announcement means the total cost of the security has climbed to over half a billion pounds ($780 million).
The money will come out of budget contingency funds. Robertson says the event remains on budget.
Britain has allocated 9.3 billion pounds ($14.5 billion) for the games.
