THE successful 2012 London Olympics bid is expected to unleash billions of pounds of investment and will transform large swathes of the capital's rundown East End.

The centrepiece will be an 80,000-seat stadium, still to be built, but much of the plans will hinge on transforming the Lower Lea Valley into the main Olympic site.

Work on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, the East London Line extension and capacity upgrades on the Jubilee underground line are already under way and should be completed long before the Olympic flame reaches British shores.

About 40,000 jobs, 30,000 homes - including 9,000 in a new Olympic village - and 1,000 new businesses are expected to be created as a result of the games.

Economic analysts claim the overall cost of capital investment in the project could top £8.6bn, with £6.3bn alone going on improving London's transport infrastructure, including improvements to all its tube stations.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said a "once in a lifetime" opportunity had been presented to make a difference to many people, transform UK sport and continue the regeneration of the East End of London.

Mr Prescott said: "The Olympics development programme will integrate with the regeneration work continuing in the Thames Gateway to ensure that we not only create an event, but long-term leisure facilities, homes, jobs and thriving communities.

"This will establish it not only as a pre-eminent location nationally for sport, but a place where people want to live and work, now and in future generations.

"I look forward to working with Government colleagues, partners across the region and, indeed, throughout the country to step up and meet the challenge before us. I know we are up to it."

The huge investment in infrastructure and the subsequent work that will be required is expected to prove a huge boon to the construction industry.

Trade groups said the industry was already the best in the world and the Olympics were a chance to prove its "gold medal standard".

Sheila Hoile, of the industry skills council CITB-ConstructionSkills, said: "Whether it is the workers in the industry or the quality of work they produce, we cannot be beaten.

"We now have a chance to prove this once again on a global stage."

Ms Hoile added: ''People will ask us 'Can we build it?' - the answer is 'Yes, we can'."

She said the industry will work with the London Development Agency, the Learning and Skills Council and training providers to ensure there are enough staff to carry out the work.

Meanwhile, The Royal Institute of British Architects (Riba) said the 2012 Games should be used as a catalyst for the regeneration of rundown areas of the capital.

It said London's heritage had been recognised by judges as an integral part of the bid and said exciting new designs could help transform the city.

The organisation said the capital must ensure the Olympics is used to change London's streets for the better.

George Ferguson, president of Riba, said: "Holding an Olympic Games means evoking history. I truly believe that London, of all the candidate cities, has, in quality and variety, by far the best mix of old and new to offer the millions of national and overseas visitors that will come in 2012.

"As a profession, we shall be doing all we can to ensure both beauty and legacy alongside great sporting endeavour, in the true spirit of the Olympics."

Organisers have acknowledged they have to "hit the ground running" in order to make the Games a success.

The biggest caveat the International Olympic Committee (IOC) put on London's hopes in its June evaluation was that much of its bid was a paper vision compared to then favourite Paris.

The IOC report noted: "While the Olympic park would undoubtedly leave a strong sporting and environmental legacy for London, the magnitude of the project, including the planned upgrade and expansion of transport infrastructure, would require careful planning to ensure all facilities and rehabilitation projects were completed on time."

Busting the budget is also not an option, if embarrassing taunts about never finishing things on time or within the financial constraints are to be avoided.

But bid campaigners have said they are 110 per cent convinced this will not happen.

London 2012 chairman Lord Coe, who led the London campaign since taking over from American Barbara Cassani last May, and chief executive Keith Mills have already pledged to remain in post now London has landed the biggest prize in sport.

A 40-strong transition squad comprising the bid leadership, plus the management and communications team, will be in place until December.

The legal groundwork is already in place to underpin the management of the games.

The Olympics Bill will be put in motion from today.

The legislation, announced in the Queen's Speech, will set up an Olympic Delivery Authority to ensure the stadium, Olympic village, transport links and other venues are completed on time.

The Bill will also grant London's Mayor specific powers to prepare for the games.

Intellectual property rights and copyright laws will be tightened to prevent the illegal use of the Olympic symbol and logos. Ticket touting will be made a criminal offence.

London will hope to copy the Sydney 2000 Games, in Australia, which were a raging success that heralded a surge in tourism.

In terms of planning, tickets sales, speed of construction and the fact that 64 per cent of its of facilities are already built, London 2012 sees itself as closer to Sydney than last year's beleaguered Athens Games.

But it will hope to avoid the negative, damaging side to the Olympic ideal shown in previous games.

In Atlanta 1996, transport systems ground to a halt, damaging the city's reputation.

And in Moscow, ticket sales for the 1980 games were abysmal and the boycott by dozens of countries over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan did not help.

Montreal 1976 nearly went bankrupt, while the 1972 Munich games were overshadowed by the murder of 11 Israeli athletes by Arab terrorists.