The cost of building venues for the 2025 World Exposition in the western Japan city of Osaka is expected to rise by tens of billions of yen from the current ¥185 billion due to soaring material and labor costs, people familiar with the event said Wednesday.
The figure is expected to exceed ¥200 billion.
Currently, the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition, the event's organizer, is examining the costs. Based on the results, the government is expected to cover part of additional costs under its planned fiscal 2023 supplementary budget.
The construction cost is set to be shouldered equally by the central government, Osaka Prefecture and the city of Osaka, as well as the business community. The total was initially estimated at ¥125 billion, but rose to ¥185 billion at the end of 2020, mainly for stronger measures against summer heat.
The swelling costs deal an additional blow to the Osaka Expo as the event already faces delays in the construction of foreign pavilions.
"We'll thoroughly check the examination (by the organizer), and the central and local governments and the business community will discuss responses if necessary," industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said during a news conference on Friday.
Nishimura has indicated that the central government will also bear the cost of safety measures for the expo venues, following recent attacks on key figures in Japan and a deadly crowd crush in South Korea last year.