Beijing has done an excellent job in preparing the venues and
facilities for the 2008 Olympic
Games, said an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member on
Saturday.
Wu Ching-Kuo, also a member of the IOC coordination commission
for the 2008 Games, gave his full consent to the way that Beijing
invite ownership tenders worldwide for the construction and
operation for the stadia while he is visiting Changsha for the
Chinese City Games, which kicks off on Saturday.
"I'd rather say that what the Beijing organizers are doing is a
milestone in the Olympic history," said Wu, in charge of the
engineering and construction section of the coordination
commission.
"They ask the bidders rather than the government to finance,
construct and operate the stadiums after the 2008 Games is over,
which saves the government a lot of worries about the finance and
the maintenance of the stadiums," he said. "And the most important
thing is that the large stadiums won't become 'white elephants'
after the Games."
Beijing has invited international and local companies to lodge
ownership bids for Olympic venues and facilities, including the
Olympic Village, National Swimming Center and the Wukesong Cultural
and Sports Center. Tenders will be awarded by October. The winning
companies will acquire a 30-year right to operate the stadiums.
In August, a consortium led by the China International Trust and
Investment Corp won the ownership tender for the National Stadium,
the main stadium for the Games as they will raise the funding for
42 per cent of the stadium's 3.5 billion-yuan (US$423 million)
cost.
"The IOC has paid much attention to the post-Games utilization
of the facilities when Beijing is preparing for the Games," Wu
said. "And Beijing has jumped to a good start in this aspect."
(Xinhua News Agency October 19, 2003)