IOC to inspect London Olympic preparations

LONDON, May 19 (Xinhua) -- An inspection team from the International Olympic Committee arrived in London on Monday for a three-day visit to monitor the 2012 Olympic preparations.

The 18-strong IOC co-ordination commission, led by Swiss lawyer Denis Oswald, will start the tour with visiting the venues on Tuesday morning.

On Thursday, they will be taken to the Olympic Park in Stratford, where a ground-breaking ceremony will mark the start of construction of the main Olympic stadium - three months ahead of schedule.

While the rapid pace of construction is likely to receive a positive response from the IOC, the arguments will continue about the cost of the Games.

New London mayor Boris Johnson, who will meet the IOC commission for the first time on Tuesday, is known to be actively seeking to appoint a team of city financial experts to examine the Games spiraling bill.

The recent findings of the public accounts committee in Parliament said that "confidence in management is damaged after the budget has tripled from 3.4 billion pounds to 9.3 billion", organizers were in "dreamland" and conducting an "entirely unrealistic budget."

The IOC team will also meet the main Games leaders including London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe, Olympics minister Tessa Jowell, British Olympic Association chairman Colin Moynihan and ODA chairman John Armitt.

They will devote Wednesday to updates on issues involving sport, marketing and athletes, and are dealing with cultural, communications and financial issues on Thursday.