Australia could face a budget blow-out of up to Aus$159m (US$167.5m) when the city of Gold Coast hosts the Commonwealth Games in 2018, a report said.

Brisbane’s Courier-Mail reported that Queensland Premier Anna Bligh was warned in November, days before the city won the right to host the event, that the athletes’ village could cost much more than the planned $48.9 million.

According to a document ob-tained by the newspaper, Queensland’s top official for coordinating public infrastructure has estimated the village’s final cost to taxpayers is more likely to range from $120 million to $208 million.

At the upper range of $208 million, the cost overrun would come to about $159 million.

But Queensland state Treasurer Andrew Fraser said the 1,338-unit village would be delivered on budget, once the government sells the apartments as student accommodation after the Games, the newspaper said.

“We make no apologies for directing the Games team to stick to its budget,” a spokeswoman for Fraser said.

“The estimate for the net cost of the Commonwealth Games athletes’ village is $48 million as is published in the bid book.”

Australia was chosen as the 2018 Commonwealth Games organisers in November after beating out Sri Lanka’s Hambantota in the bidding process.

Queensland hopes to bring the event off for a cost of $1.1 billion.