In the place of the "Universiade Village" there has risen a Nationalities Village as it has been lately made known after conclusion of the Universiade Games. For its specific use designated it will be certainly turned into a residential ground as rookeries of college students to help the developers to get back their money as economic returns for their investment made.
That tells how the "Universiade Village" has been built and the most has to and will be made of it following the game rule of market operation: Both the government and investors are benefited in line with a win-win mode. But how a new improved mode is to be developed and best used when speaking about hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing still remains a problem that will have to be indefatigably tackled with in the years to come in the capital.
Market Rule Sought to Lift China's "Olympic Village" Out of Loss
But things have not been all that easy in the history of world Olympics. It nearly makes no exception for all Olympic construction projects having been built on an ever enlarged scale, with all possible accommodations for athletes provided, and meanwhile, an unbearable load of construction funds shoved onto the hosting countries. Tokyo had built its "Olympic Village" to a cost of US$ 3.7 billion compared to 2.7 billion ruble of cost in Moscow, not to say Montreal weighed with a debt of US$1 billion by its "Super" Olympiad in 1976..
To turn loss into gain from holding Olympic Games only began with Los Angeles' 23rd Olympiad in the US and no Olympic Games hosts had since run into debt. Atalanta is one among the others with a surplus of US$10 million from its 1996 Olympiad as a host. Sydney by its surplus of interest gains from hosting Olympic Games in 2000 speaks the matter all the more so. People are generally of the view that surplus gains by Australia must be far more US$28 million than that country had declared.
An Extension of "Universiade Village" Mode Expected
China, with experience gained from staging large regional and international games, is certainly in good stead to make itself a good host to the 2008 Olympic Games. Things will become all the more so as it is to be profited by tips and experiences of its foreign counterparts. The year 1990 saw Beijing played host to the 11th Asian Games with a special allotment of funds made along with social funds collected and donations made by many domestic enterprises, amounting to a total RMB$2 billion yuan. But of these, the main part of the cost had been from the treasury of the municipal government of Beijing traced to a planned economy and rigid governance of social and public undertaking, pointing to things that have come to a pass. New tests and experiments must be carried out following a new line of thinking and new ways to be found.
The 2000 Universiade by itself provides a good example highlighting the new mode created in contributing to the hosting of large international sports events following market rule in Beijing. Merely with a startup fund of RMB$320 million yuan from the municipal treasury, BOT rule strictly followed, Beijing has come to claim the first rate of exploratory work for staging the Universiade and the fine vista for a profitable sports industry to be developed in China.
A Transparent "Win-win" Mode Hoped
Ping Yongquan, deputy secretary general of Beijing 2008 Olympic Bid Committee told that "most of Beijing's 2008 Olympic sports venues and Olympic Village will invite public bidding for design, construction and management". Mayor Liu Qi once said at a work meeting that available will be a complete set of "Olympics Games Operation Rules" by the end of October to specify detailed operations for nine major construction projects to be launched in Beijing.
Ensuing fierce competition for package construction of Beijing's Olympic Village and sports venues will be inevitably on a world scale. Along with a large number of domestic investors there are many transnationals and other competitors who have shown a great interest in such a profitable construction market as of the Olympics going to rise in Beijing.
Inviting public bidding on a world scale must be a heavy dose of medication promoting a flourishing Olympic market in China. Since a large number of world investors eye on a high comprehensive return of economic interest from the country's Olympic projects, following market rule, Beijing will be surely in the way to use a comparatively small amount of money to complete construction of its Olympic Village and other major venues. But how to ensure an efficient recovery of money input by the investors will remain as a problem to solve. Only a comprehensive solution to this can give rise to a win-win mode through the 2008 Olympic Games, expert told.
(People's Daily 09/28/2001)
