The initial cost of demolishing the current 48,000-seat National Stadium, the main venue for the 1964 Olympics, and constructing the new facility was estimated to be 130 billion yen (£808 million/$1.3 billion/€1 billion).

Costs have spiralled since the projection, however.

Plans for the futuristic 80,000-seat arena, designed by the British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid who was behind the London 2012 Aquatics Centre, have since been scaled down with the proposed retractable roof scrapped and some temporary seating set to be installed for the Games as a cost-cutting measure.

Despite the cuts to save money, Masuzoe was angry at the figure quoted by Sports Minister Hakubun Shimomura to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last week, which the Tokyo Metropolitan Government would have to pay.

"We're asked to foot the bill for barrier-free design and air conditioning, but they are not going to be used solely for the Olympics," Kyodo News quoted the official as saying today.

"If it's about this ridiculous figure that's been submitted to the Prime Minister's office, then he shouldn't bother coming over for an explanation."

The development of the new National Stadium, which has been announced as a venue for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, has also been subject to delays due to the controversial process regarding the demolition of the current venue.

Firstly, there had been calls made to upgrade the existing Stadium, rather than build the new futuristic 80,000-seat arena, with 500 people opting to oppose the demolition with a protest in July 2014.

A protest walk arranged by the Custodians of the National Stadium, a group opposed to the price and environmental impact of the developing a new Stadium, was held in January.

Despite the protests, which centred primarily on the environmental effect and post-Games legacy, the work finally began in March, having initially been scheduled to start last July.

Construction of the new venue is earmarked to begin in October following the completion of the demolition work on the old stadium the previous month.

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