July 20, 2007	Friday	Rajab 04, 1428

LONDON, July 19: Preparations for the London 2012 Olympic Games are going smoothly, according to the body responsible for delivering the infrastructure. Publishing it's annual report for 2006-2007 the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) pointed to its first-year progress, including submission of the planning application for the Olympic Park and completion of the first major construction project.

“This is a project without precedent -- twice the size of Heathrow's Terminal Five in half the time,” ODA acting chairman Roy McNulty said in a statement.

“It is one of the biggest business challenges in the world and one of the biggest jobs in the construction industry -- a multi-billion pound delivery programme to a fixed deadline.

“The ODA has met all its major milestones to date in its first year, finishing the first major construction programme, the tunnelling needed to put the power lines under ground, on time and to budget.”

McNulty, who will step aside for new chairman John Armitt in September, also said improvements to the site map had resulted in a 600 million pounds ($1.23 billion) saving for the project which has come under regular fire for spiralling costs.

In March, Olympic Minister Tessa Jowell revealed that the cost of delivering the venues and regenerating a swathe of east London had more than doubled to 9.3 billion pounds.

“I am confident that the world-class leadership we have in place will ensure continued good progress and delivery of a Games and legacy the whole country will be proud of for years to come,” Jowell said on Thursday.

Construction work on major venues is expected to start in the second half of 2008.—Reuters