London: London Mayor Boris Johnson insisted Friday that the city's 2012 Olympics will come in under budget and still be as impressive as the lavish, and much more expensive, show laid on in Beijing.
The claim came despite the estimated cost of the London Games rising from 3.4 billion pounds when it won the bid in 2005 to 9.3 billion (11.9 billion euros, $17.8 billion ) now.
"I'm absolutely determined to make sure that we come in under 9.3 billion," Johnson told BBC television.
He said that Beijing, from where he was speaking, had staged an "absolutely fantastic" games but added that London could match the spectacle.
"I think with British ingenuity and all the rest of it, resourcefulness, we are going to produce a games... which is going to be in our own sweet way just as fantastic," Johnson added.
The Beijing Games are reportedly set to cost over 20 billion pounds and will likely be the most expensive ever.
Johnson, who took over the job from Ken Livingstone in May, said he did not think London would have any problem finding savings.
"We're looking now at ways of economising, finding ways of moving things around perhaps but in no way do I want to prejudice the legacy value of the Olympic site and we're not going to do that," he said.
Earlier this month, Johnson voiced concern in the Financial Times about how "this weird constellation of huge objects" being built for the London games, such as the Olympic village and velodrome, would be used afterwards.
The Olympic flag will be passed from Beijing to London during the Closing Ceremony on Sunday.
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