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Beijing Olympic campaigners trying to convince the visiting International
Olympic Committee (IOC) inspectors of the capital city's credentials
to host the 2008 Olympic Games declared a five-point promotion package
Tuesday, February 20.
The vibrant economic growth, extensive public support for the Olympic
bid, sufficient accommodation, communication and transportation
capacity as well as the well-planned Olympic venues would combine
to make Beijing a strong candidate for the games, Liu Jingmin, Vice
President of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Bid Committee (BOBICO)
said at a press conference today.
"We want to show the IOC evaluation commission the true conditions
and capabilities of Beijing and the enthusiasm and confidence of
the Beijing citizens," Liu said.
The average economic growth of 10 percent in the past five years
indicated Beijing has been financially capable of hosting the sports
world's biggest event. The city government income, rising by 24%
on an annual bases, last year were as three times as that of the
year of 1995. The Total number of the fixed capital investment have
amounted to 360 billion RMB Yuan (about US$44 billion) during the
1998-2000 period, Liu said.
Beijing's Olympic ambitions are also shared by its people, Liu
said. That was demonstrated by a recent independent survey by Gallup
China Co, which indicated 94.9% Beijingers back Beijing's bid.
Liu also said that there're enough hotels in Beijing to accommodate
the vast number of athletes, journalists and tourists who would
come during the Olympics. There're 396 star hotels and about 80,000
suite rooms in Beijing and the number of the four or five-star hotel
reaches 54, he said.
Fourthly, Beijing possesses the telecommunication as well as traffic
control system necessary for the Olympic Games, Liu said. In less
than four years' time, exchanged handling fixed telephones in the
public network increased their capacity to 6.30 million fixed lines,
12.7 percent increase over 1999. The number of mobile phone subscribers
almost increased ten folds.
Lastly, Beijing made a very good planning of its possible Olympic
venues, which include the main area and three sub-areas. All the
competition and training venues are a five to 30 minutes drive to
the Olympic village.
After the Olympic Games, the main area will be turned into a civic
area for such purposes as exhibitions, sports and recreation. The
university area will be used for training, competition and cultural
and art activities for students. The western community area will
continue to provide sports facilities to the citizens there. The
scenic area will be adapted to cater to the needs of the tourists.
(People's Daily 02/21/01)
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