French authorities chip in €111 million for 2024 Paris Olympics

Paris: French authorities said Friday they will increase their contribution to the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic organising committee (Cojo) by 111 million euros ($117m).The national and local governments were heeding a request from Cojo, which said on 21 November that they needed to lift their budget estimate by 10 percent from 3.98 billion euros to 4.48bn euros, partly as a result of inflation.Cojo are due to finalise the budget for running the Games at a board meeting on 12 December.The French government has been funneling its contribution through Solideo, the public company in charge of building projects.Cojo is meant to be self-funding but had already received 100 million from the national government, ear-marked for the Paralympics.National, Parisian and regional governments are all contributing but said they had not yet agreed on who was paying how much.They did say extra cash includes 71 million euros more for the Paralympics, 12 million for "sports equipment", 15 million for regional "redevelopment projects" and eight million for anti-doping.With Cojo pressing ahead with an ambitious opening ceremony on the Seine, they said the budget for the four Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies is "up 30 million euros to 130 million euros".Cojo said sponsorship and ticket sales were ahead of projections.Tony Estanguet, the Cojo president, said that inflation would be reflected in the prices of tickets for prime sessions and that the plan for free transport for the spectators, had been dropped.Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.