AUDITORS have exposed a multibillion-yuan blowout in the operating budget for last year’s Guangzhou Asian Games, as well as hundreds of other problems with organizing the event — from venue tenders to construction failures.

    According to provincial audit figures posted on the Guangdong government Web site Saturday, the Games organizers went about 3 billion yuan (US$469 million) over the official 13.6 billion yuan budget detailed in March by Zhang Jieming, director of the Guangzhou Finance Bureau, who insisted at the time that the expenditure was “basically within budget.”

    The audit was restricted to operating expenses and did not cover spending on infrastructure and urban facelifts to prepare Guangzhou for the Games.

    In their auditing of financial records for the Asian Games and Asian Para Games, provincial auditors found more than 500 problems — including contractual, procurement and construction irregularities associated with eight sporting venues. Unauthorized subcontractors were paid about 220 million yuan for construction work on the venues.

    The auditors said 3 million yuan in design contracts for three of the venues was not awarded through an open tender. There were also major problems with construction quality, including a leaking roof at the swimming and diving venue, cracks in concrete floors in a Zengcheng stadium and substandard fire-retardant materials in a Guangzhou gymnasium.

    However, most of the reported problems have been fixed, according to the auditors.

    Guangzhou Mayor Wan Qingliang initially said that 122.6 billion yuan would be spent on the Games. This figure included actual operating costs and outlays on various infrastructure and urban renewal programs.

    (SD-Agencies)