Though the specific operating cost for the 2008 Olympic Games is unavailable, a Beijing official said yesterday that it would not exceed that of the 2004 Athens Games, which was about $2.6 billion.

 

The city's statistics bureau deputy director Yu Xiuqin cited that amount at a press conference yesterday when she was asked: "How much money Beijing has spent on the Games?" Official figures show that Athens spent 1.97 billion euros ($2.6 billion) on the 2004 Games.

 

About a year ago, the executive vice-president of Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympics (BOCOG), Jiang Xiaoyu, had said that the Games' operating cost had increased from the original forecast of $1.609 billion to about $2 billion, Xinhua reports. But no other specific figures have been available since.

 

The operating cost excludes the investment in the city's infrastructure or construction of the venues.

 

At least eight new lines are being added to the city's subway train network and a host of new roads are under construction, and a new 900,000-square-meter airport terminal is coming up in the northeast of the city.

 

There will be 31 venues for the Games, 12 of which would be newly built and that includes the iconic Bird's Nest main stadium and the "Water Cube" aquatic center.

 

(China Daily January 25, 2007)