John Armitt, chair of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), has revealed that further contingency funding may be required for the construction of the 2012 athletes village if private funding fails to materialise by April.

Armitt told the culture, media and sport select committee that a pot of funders' contingency worth £1bn had been set up specifically to deal with unexpected problems incurred during the construction process. "So far, the only unexpected event has been the problems with financing the Olympic Village," he said. "The government has released £95m to us for the first six months [of construction] which will take us through to the spring, when hopefully we will have got the financing in place.

"If we haven't, then we will require a further drawn-down of the funders' contingency." A report published in June by David Ross, a member of London's Olympic organising committee, revealed that the Olympic Village's developer, Lend Lease, had encountered difficulties in securing private funds for the project.

Negotiations are continuing between Lend Lease and the ODA to secure financing for the Olympic Village, with progress described as "slow but steady". Image: London 2012