The master plan for the Beijing 2008 Olympics that will provide a detailed timetable of the city's preparation for the Games will be completed by the end of the year.

The Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games (BOCOG) announced the news at its first press conference since it was established late last year.

Zhang Jian, director of the Overall Planning Department, said the plan covers 13 aspects including venue construction, marketing and the organization of the competition.

It will serve as a rough timetable from the very moment on July 13 last year when Beijing inked the Olympics hosting deal with International Olympic Committee (IOC) to September 2009, the predicted time for Beijing to hand in a conclusion report on the 2008 Games.

Zhang said they talked with the IOC last November on the plan and provided a draft containing more than 700 items.

A finalized edition will be launched by BOCOG during the IOC 113th Session, which is scheduled to take place several days before the start of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics on February 8.

Zhang also said a delegation from BOCOG would make a presentation on preparatory works since July 13 and then inspect the Salt Lake City Games.

"We put much importance to this visit since this is the first of its kind since the formation of the BOCOG," Zhang said.

He also revealed that a 21-member Supervision Committee -- a watchdog on Beijing's preparatory works -- had started its seven-year work on Saturday to prevent corruption.

Deputies to Beijing Municipal People's Congress have called for the establishment of special organizations and regulations to keep the 2008 Olympic Games graft-free.

Deputy Yan Maoxun expressed concern over the function of the new supervision division, which is a subordinate body of the committee.

He said it might fall short of people's expectations and prove unable to detect and prevent evil practices efficiently.

"To have an independent organization of higher authority is a better way out in this situation, the organization will supervise the practices of the committee, especially in engineering," he said.

He has submitted a motion to the municipal legislative body during the ongoing Fifth Session of the 11th Beijing Municipal People's Congress.

Yan said the country cannot afford to engage incompetent construction companies at exorbitant costs, especially for such a big occasion as the Olympic Games, the grandest international sports activity the country has ever hosted.

"I clearly remember my anger when seeing the mottled walls of Beijing's West Railway Station," he said.

"Without strict supervision, the 180 billion yuan (US$21.7 billion) might become an easy cake to be divided up between corrupt personnel."

Yan's attitude seems to be widely echoed by people's deputies.

Another striking motion accepted during the session appeals for a special regulation supervising the organization of the 2008 Olympic Games.

As many as 207 deputies signed their names to the motion.

According to Xie Zhaohua, initiator of the proposal, such a regulation has been effective in keeping the organization of sports galas in other countries, such as France, crime-free.

Earlier, Beijing Mayor Liu Qi promised members of the Beijing Municipal People's Political Consultative Conference -- the city's leading political consultative body -- that the municipal government, as well as the committee, will adopt effective measure to ensure the cleanliness of the 2008 Olympic Games.

Liu also disclosed that the municipal government is drafting a special programme on preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games.

"When completed, the programme will be submitted to local people for discussion and revision suggestions," he said.

(China Daily by Tang Min & Yu Yilei, January 31, 2002)