The total cost of Beijing Olympic venues will be within 13
billion yuan ($1.8 billion), Chen Gang, vice-mayor of Beijing, said
yesterday - giving an official figure for the first time.
"We always encouraged frugality in the build-up to the Games," Chen said while briefing the media on
progress made in construction of Games venues.
The cost of the National Stadium will be within 3.5 billion yuan
($486 million), he added. The central and local governments have
contributed half of the cost with the remainder coming from
investors and donations.
With the National Aquatics Center being delivered for use
yesterday, all venues in Beijing except for the National Stadium,
dubbed the Bird's Nest, have been completed, Chen said.
Responding to media reports about the death of 10 workers at the
construction site of the Bird's Nest, officials said the number is
not accurate.
"During the building of the Bird's Nest, there were two deaths,
one in 2006 and one last year. We investigated the accidents and
properly compensated the families based on national standards.
People who were responsible for the accidents have been punished,"
said Ding Zhenkuan, deputy chief of the Beijing municipal bureau of
work safety.
The accidents were reported to relevant departments, he
added.
Last week, Britain's Sunday Times newspaper reported
that at least 10 workers have died since the construction of the
Bird's Nest started in 2003.
According to officials, construction of the 91,000-seat iconic
venue, which will hold the opening and closing ceremonies and also
serve as the main Games venue, is going smoothly and is scheduled
to be completed in March.
For the Beijing Games, 31 venues are needed for competitions and
45 for training. Up to now, 22 have been tried in test events.
"Through the test events, all the venues have met the
requirements of the respective international sports federations,"
said Xu Bo, director of Beijing 2008 Project Construction
Headquarters Office.
(China Daily January 29, 2008)