Cautionary Praise for London Olympic Bid

London was praised today in a crucial report assessing the merits of the five candidate cities hoping to host the 2012 Olympic Games but some concerns were raised about the scale of its plans.

The report by the evaluation commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said the London bid showed a "high level of planning by the key organisations" involved.

However, in part of the conclusion on London the commission said that, "given the magnitude of the project, careful planning would be required to ensure that all facilities are completed on time".

The section of the report on Paris, which this morning was 1-5 favourite to win the games with the Ladbrokes bookmakers, also described that bid as being of "very high quality", however its conclusion did not include any significant expressions of caution. The Paris plan involves less building of main venues than the London plan.

An IOC report in May 2004 had ranked London third behind Paris and Madrid and criticised the UK capital's transport infrastructure, saying it needed considerable investment for upgrading. Questions were also asked about the public and political backing of a London games.

But since then London has clawed back ground in the race to win the Olympics and is now considered the second favourite, with Madrid the outsider, and New York and Moscow given little chance by bookmakers and analysts.

Today's 114-page report said the evaluation commission now believed transport demands in London would be met "provided that the substantial programme of public transport improvements is fully delivered before 2012".

This latest report does not give rankings but examines the technical strengths and weaknesses of each city hoping to prosper when the 117 IOC members vote on July 6 in Singapore.

The report is based on whistlestop visits by the 16-strong IOC inspection team to London, Paris, Madrid, New York and Moscow in February and March. The team visited the planned sites and watched in-depth presentations about each city's plans and concepts.

The importance of the report has grown massively since IOC members were banned from visiting bidding cities in the wake of the Salt Lake City bribery scandal; for many this will form the basis of how they vote. However, some analysts believe that all the candidate cities can host the games with less anxiety than the run-up to Athens in 2004 and that the vote will come down not to technical aspects but to politics.

Lord Coe, London's bid leader, and the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, will between them travel to 12 countries in the next month in an effort to woo voters ahead of the final vote.