Scene of the press conference
(BEIJING, January 28) -- Smooth progress has been made in the construction of the venues for the Beijing Olympic Games, according to Chen Gang, vice-mayor of Beijing.
Of the 31 competition venues, 30 have been completed, and the National Stadium will be inaugurated in April this year, due to the arrangement of the Games' opening ceremony in the stadium, he said at a press conference at the Beijing Olympic Media Center on Monday.
Chen Gang, vice-mayor of Beijing gives a briefing on the construction of the Olympic venues.
Forty-four of the 45 training venues for the Games have been completed already, and 22 competition venues have been tested through the Good Luck Beijing sport events, he said.
In response to a question from the press on the construction budget, Chen said the budget would be limited to 13 billion yuan (about 1.8 billion US dollars).
Xu Bo, chief of the Beijing 2008 Project Construction Headquarters Office gives a briefing on the construction of the Olympic venues.
In reviewing the construction process, he said all the projects had undergone open bids or contests in the early stages of their design and construction periods, with the aim of selecting the most outstanding teams to take on the tasks. During venue construction, the government, venue owners and supervision agencies took serious management measures over the venue sites and the supply of materials and equipment. After the projects were completed, the contractors and government agencies engaged in the examination and acceptance process, abiding by related standards. The results of the Good Luck Beijing sport events have shown that the venues are reliable, functional and operational, and able to meet the demands of the events.
Sui Zhenjiang, director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Construction answers questions from the press.
He said that abiding by the principle of frugality, the investment in the venue construction was rigidly controlled. From the very beginning of site selection, the planners made maximum use of existing sports facilities to convert them into standard Olympic venues through expansion or renovation; opted to build temporary venues or facilities; and took the venues' post-Games use into consideration, with the aim of minimizing the investment.
The vice-mayor said the government of Beijing has attached great importance to the transparency of the construction process and conducted strict supervision over the use of the funds, the procurement of the materials, and the bid and tender process. The national and municipal audit agencies have followed the whole construction process.
Wang Hui, deputy director of BOCOG Media and Communications Department chairs the press conference.
To carry out the mottos of "Green Olympics," "High-tech Olympics" and "People's Olympics," great attention has been paid to widely applying energy-, water-, soil- and material-saving technologies and the provision of high-standard accessible facilities.
Regarding the venue budget, Chen said it will be controlled to 13 billion yuan, including the funds for the National Stadium, nicknamed the "Bird's Nest," which will stay under 3.5 billion yuan (about 486 million US dollars). Of the total budget, 50 percent came from financing from the central and Beijing municipal governments, with the rest from social funds and donations.
Ding Zhenkuan, vice-director of the Beijing Municipal Administration of Safe Production Supervision answers questions from the press.
| [1][2][Next] |
