Beijing Major Wang Qishan said here on Thursday that Beijing has
confidence and ability to host a successful Olympic Games in 2008 and "leave China and the
international sports with a unique legacy".
"Presenting a distinctive and high-level Olympic Games is a
serious commitment that Beijing has made to the whole world," Wang
said at a luncheon hosted by the Asia Society in Southern
California.
Wang said Beijing has been preparing for the games "in a
down-to-earth manner" trying to realize the objective of "Green
Olympics, Hi-tech Olympics and People's Olympics" set for the
Beijing Olympics.
"At the moment, construction for 11 new facilities and some of
temporary facilities and modified or expanded premises and
associated facilities needed for the Beijing Games is underway," he
told a gathering of about 3 hundred business people, politicians
and academics.
The construction for all the venues and associated facilities is
expected to conclude by the year-end of 2007, said Wang, who is on
a visit to Los Angeles.
He dismissed worries that Beijing's economy would plummet after
the games, just as some previous Olympic cities had
experienced.
"Beijing is expected to continue its rapid economic growth for
years to come after 2008, still less faster urban development and
economic growth before and during the Olympic Games," Wang
said.
For one thing, Beijing has vast outskirts and countryside, he
said. "The Comprehensive City Plan for Beijing for the next 15
years approved by the Central Government clearly lays out the city'
s functions, spatial structure and priorities," he said.
According to the plan, the construction of three more new towns
in suburban Beijing will start immediately after the Olympic Games
in 2008 to accommodate some of the functions, industries and
population to be transferred from downtown.
"In doing so, functional transportation, educational, cultural
and medical facilities are needed for the planned new towns," Wang
said. "Meanwhile, we are starting to accelerate the formation of
anew socialist countryside in Beijing. This and other initiatives
are expected to generate immense demands for investment and
consumption."
As the Olympic Games presents an opportunity not only for
Beijing, but also for the world, "we will seize this opportunity to
further deepen reforms, expand the scope of the open-up drive, draw
upon the state-of-the-art technologies and success stories in the
world and attract talent from home and abroad in an effort to
develop Beijing up into an opener, innovative, harmonious and
residents-friendly modern international metropolis," Wang
added.
(Xinhua News Agency June 2, 2006)