Construction of all Beijing's Olympic venues will be completed in the second half of this year, officials said on Wednesday.

 

By the end of 2006 the main structures of all 12 newly-built Games venues had been completed. The interiors of the venues are now being equipped and decorated.

 

About 20 venues will host test events for the Games in the second half of 2007. This will be a good chance to check their quality, Xu Bo, chief of the 2008 Olympics Projects and Construction Headquarters Office, said at a press conference.

 

He said that all construction companies involved in building the venues rank among China's best, and he believed they can meet contractual deadlines. In the past year, Beijing has devoted a lot of effort to improving the urban environment, especially by demolishing buildings put up in violation of the municipal planning program and renovating "villages in cities", or urban villages.

 

Those villages are formerly located in suburban areas, but have been swallowed up in the fast urbanization process

 

Currently, dozens of such villages remain and are undergoing renovation, said Lu Haijun, director of the Beijing Municipal Administration Commission.

 

Lu noted that a total of 4.5 million square meters of buildings that violate the municipal program were demolished last year. In their place, at least 1.5 million square meters of green belt land has been established.

 

(China Daily January 12, 2007)