The Beijing Olympic Games 2008

November 30 2002 (FriedlNet.com) - The clock is ticking for investors to get a piece of the big $23 billion Beijing Olympic pie, the deadline to submit all bid applications for tender qualification creeping up at the end of next month. Infrastructure and sports venue projects are still up for grabs in an unprecedented investment frenzy the 3,000-year old city of Beijing has never seen before.

Sports venues

The last date to purchase the application forms is November 30th, the latest submission date December 28th. Contracts for the Beijing Games venues are being awarded to Chinese and foreign investors alike via an open bidding system. Ownership for a wide array of current projects is still up in the air and may still be applied for:

The National Stadium – this venue will be situated at the main 3,000 acre Olympic park, called Olympic Green. It will be used for the main opening and closing ceremonies, for track and field events and for the football finals. The stadium will sport a removable roof and host 100,000 spectators. The ballpark figure for investment expenditure is 3 billion Yuan.

The National Gymnasium – also at the Olympic Green and close to the already built National Olympic Sports Center, this will be a standard gymnasium hosting volleyball, handball and gymnastics events. Covering 40,000 square meters and accommodate 18,000 spectators, the project is due to cost around 650 million Yuan.

The Olympic Village – likewise at the Olympic Green, this project will be tendered together with the National Gymnasium as one project. The village includes apartments for athlete and coach accommodation. It will cover 110,000 square meters and is estimated to cost 3.3 billion Yuan. After the 2008 Games, the apartments will be open to commercial sale for residential use.

The National Swimming Center – also at the Olympic Green, the center will host swimming, diving and water polo events, requiring 17,000 seats and due to cost up to 600 million Yuan.

The Convention Center – at the Olympic Green, this center will cover 230,000 square meters and be used for tennis, fencing, modern pentathlon, wrestling and badminton matches. Morever, conferences and exhibition events are to be held here. Costs are estimated to exceed 2 billion Yuan.

The Beijing Wukesong Culture and Sports Center – Covering 200,000 square meters, this center will be located in the north-western Haidian District of Beijing. It will home to many baseball and softball events. Around 3 billion Yuan are expected to flow into the project.

The Olympic Water Park – Located northeast of the Xiang Yang Gate of Chaobai River, Ma Po Town, Shunyi District, Beijing, the venue will cover 20,000 square meters. Hosting canoe and kayak events, the park is expected to cost 750 million Yuan.

The Beijing Country Equestrian Park – To the southwest of the Xiang Yang Gate of Chaobai River, Ma Po Town, Shunyi District, Beijing, the park will host the horse racing events. The new racetrack area itself will be 50,000 square meters, adding on to the already existing racetrack. Expected expenditure: 1 billion Yuan.

Of the 37 competition venues, most will be held in Beijing. However, Qingdao will host some sailing events and some Olympic football games will take place in Tianjin, Shenyang, Shanghai, and Qinhuangdao.

As of last Monday (the 20th), 52 companies had already filed a total of 117 bidding papers, according to the Beijing Development Planning Commission, with half coming from the mainland, 9 from Hong Kong and Taiwan, and the remaining coming from such countries as Japan, France, Italy, the United States and Canada. Companies chosen to build the respective projects will be announced next year, construction commencing thereafter.

Infrastructure and Green Awareness

Apart from the sports venues, Beijing must invest billions into municipal infrastructure projects to support the influx of athletes and visitors by 2008. Fifth and sixth ring roads are to be built around Beijing, and new roads and expressways will be built to ensure a quick transit from one Olympic venue to the other. 5 new subway lines at a length of about 85 kilometers will be built, including one from downtown to the Olympic Green, and one connecting downtown to the airport. At the same time, the Beijing’s airport will be renovated. All in all, a rough $10 billion will be injected into the development of the transportation system by the time the Olympic Games begin.

Under the motto “Green Olympics”, Beijing will make a concerted effort to improve the miserable environmental conditions of the city. Of the world’s 10 most polluted cities, 7 are in China. Things will have to be done to avoid the athletes getting bronchitis during the first days of events. All in all, $7 billion in funds is to be spent on environmental projects. Industrial enterprises occupying more than 6.1 square meters will have to be relocated outside the downtown district by the time the Games roll in. Also bent on reducing the smog that is traditionally puffed into the air via China’s excessive coal dependency will be the construction of a second Shaanxi-Beijing natural gas transport line, upping total natural gas usage to 4-5 billion cubic meters by 2007. By then, Beijing plans 90% of its buses and 70% of its taxis to use environmentally friendly natural gas. In addition, 3 greenbelts are to be planted around the city.

As usual, there’s a lot of work to do to bring China up to international standards, especially on the environmental front. But where there’s a will, there’s a way, and Chinese ambitions and deeds are bound to once again hop over the high hurdles set before them.

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