Tokyo: Tokyo's contract with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allows it to postpone the Games until the end of the year, Japan's Olympics minister said on Friday, amid concern over Coronavirus fears that could force the IOC to cancel the Games and shift it to an alternative venue.
"The contract calls for the Games to be held within 2020. That could be interpreted as allowing a postponement," Seiko Hashimoto said in response to a lawmaker's question in parliament.
According to the Olympic Games hosting agreement, IOC owns the right to cancel the Games if required. Thomas Bach, president of the IOC, last week said his organisation was "fully committed" to holding the Tokyo Olympics as per the schedule despite the coronavirus epidemic that claimed more than 3,000 lives until now.
Hashimoto said Japan's government and Tokyo were still committed to hosting the sporting event, starting on July 24.
"We are doing all we can to ensure that the Games go ahead as planned," she told parliament.
But any halt to the Games would be costly.
The total budget for the 2020 Olympic Games is 1.35 trillion yen ($12.51 billion), with Japan's government providing 120 billion yen to build the Olympic Stadium and 30 billion yen towards the 2020 Paralympics.
Japan’s Board of Audit put government spending between the bid in 2013 and 2018 at 1.06 trillion yen.
