It's not like building a hydroelectric dam, this is stuff on the edge of science, so of course you can't get an accurate budget or timeline estimate. The 10 years was probably to placate governments and fundraiser members.
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Honestly, going wildly over budget is pretty much par for the course in any sort of large scale infrastructure project in Europe. With the way tender procedure's work in the EU, it's entirely expected that things are going to end up being more expensive and take twice as long. It's stupid and wasteful, but it's “public money” and not going to change any time soon.
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If you look at this chart from the article the delays actually look pretty reasonable and you can see them closing in on completion. Looks like been a series of set backs in the recent past with particular components but I think a budget comparable to the Manhattan Project (as the article states) is probably pretty reasonable for a project like this. In fact I was pretty surprised it was that small. 
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Well, science is expensive. Even more so if you want to combine it with a metric buttload of technology transfer.
Most likelye this budget was "calculated" for politics and for all parties involved it is known, except for the tax payers, who might block the project (read - be unhappy) if the real cost would have been known beforehand.
People say that fusion will use very cheap and harmless fuel to generate energy. But practically the real fuel will be all the replacement parts that will be constantly degraded and used up to maintain it's operation.
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Seems like the way to make money out of fusion would be to burn the budgeted cash instead in a conventional furnace.
So, thus far, the cost of ITER is less than the Manhattan project, but it has taken longer. The adage that it is easier to destroy than to create comes to mind.
It does seem like ITER could be more transparent, but the article is overly hyperbolic about one of the most important civil works going over time and budget.
America has spent 5x the ITER budget on Ukraine so far (and rightly so). I wish we lived in a world where that money could have supported research projects like this instead.
Practical engineering did a great video on why this happens.
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