Construction of the shooting range and velodrome for the 2008
Beijing Olympic Games will start next month and run until the
first half of 2006, Beijing Olympic organizers said Wednesday.
The construction work will mark the start of a massive Olympic
building program which will produce the 37 gymnasiums and stadiums
and 59 training venues required during the Games.
The shooting range and velodrome will be built alongside the
National Swimming Center and the National Stadium, also due to
start construction later this year.
The 7.5-hectare shooting range in Shijingshan District in
western Beijing will be able to hold 9,000 spectators. The
velodrome in the same district, is expected to seat 6,000.
The Architectural Design and Research Institute at China's
prestigious Tsinghua University is responsible for the designing of
the shooting range, and the Guangdong Architectural Design and
Research Institute for the velodrome, said Liu Zhi. Liu is deputy
director of planning and construction for the Beijing Organizing
Committee for 2008 Olympic Games.
He said the designers were chosen from 11 candidates through an
international bid and had produced the most advanced international
designs.
"We are so well-prepared that we can comfortably start
construction on time,'' Liu said.
The State General Administration of Sports, the national
governing office for sports, will own and manage the venues. The
two venues, funded by the central government, will be the training
bases for national teams after the Olympic Games.
The funds for many of the other venues will be raised through
corporate bids and tenders.
As of Sunday, management contracts had been signed for six
venues -- the National Stadium, National Gymnasium, Olympic Aquatic
Park, Convention Center, and the Olympic village and Wukesong
Cultural and Sports Center.
The committee hopes to raise 17.4 billion yuan (US$2.1 billion)
or 85 percent of the total budget for the six venues from bidders
seeking ownership rights.
The organizing committee also aims to find its first main
sponsor by the end of the year.
Yuan Bin, deputy director of the committee's marketing
department, said firms have responded enthusiastically to the
launch of the marketing plan on September 1.
"I am very confident that the sponsorship will be remarkably
valuable,'' Yuan said.
The committee has listed automobile, banking, fixed
telecommunications, and mobile communications as the four areas
where they are most likely to find their first sponsor.
(China Daily November 13, 2003)