2012 stadium on track, says Coe

Coe is confident over the construction for the London 2012 Games

London 2012 chief Lord Coe insists building work for the Olympic stadium is four months ahead of schedule.

And despite the current credit crisis, Coe says Games fundraisers are well on their way to reaching their £700m target from private backers.

"Financially we're in good shape and construction-wise slightly ahead of the game," Coe told European athletics bosses in Lausanne, Switzerland.

"We're ahead of schedule which is crucial as we'll want to test it."

Coe, the chairman of the London Olympic Organising Committee, told the European Athletics Association's congress that sponsorship and commercial investment for 2012 has now passed the £1.5bn mark.

"We have a stretch target of about £680m to £700m from the private sector and we've reached, just about a month ago, the £500m mark," he said.

"The final £180m will of course be tough, but it is in any organising committee. It's also tough under any economic circumstances."

Coe admitted that London has had to draw on a public contingency reserve for work on the Olympic village while thrashing out deals with private backers.

But he added: "We should have reached a solution to that within the next month or so.

"My commitment today is that the village will be as good as any village the athletes have stayed in."

The UK government has recently revealed that the cost of the Olympic stadium had risen by 10% in the space of a year to £547m and other venues would also cost more to build than initially estimated.