CHINA: OLYMPIC GAMES - China says Olympic construction is on schedule and tightened corruption control has been put in place

Record ID: 1520692

  • Title: CHINA: OLYMPIC GAMES - China says Olympic construction is on schedule and tightened corruption control has been put in place
  • Date: 9th December 2006
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (JUNE 17, 2010) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR TAYLOR LAUTNER SAYING: "We kind of really didn't, yeah, we didn't really get to do anything cool in this movie, action-wise, because, my character, when ever Jacob has action, he is a CGI wolf. And she usually just sits in the corner and watches it all go down." STEWART AND LAUTNER ON STAGE (SOUNDBITE)
  • Embargoed: 24th December 2006 03:37
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Sport
  • Reuters ID: LVA53EHN9BTV1FMFBFVHGPI65Y0P
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Beijing's "Water Cube" aquatics centre and "Bird's Nest" stadium, the showpiece venues for the 2008 Olympic Games, are on target for completion by the end of next year, officials said on Thursday (December 7).
    Most of the scaffolding has been removed from the aquatic centre, revealing the honeycomb steel structure fitted with special membrane cushions.
    The 1.02 billion yuan ($127.5 million) centre will host the swimming, diving and water polo events.
    The twisting steel structure of the nearby National Stadium is nearly in place. Known by its nickname the "Bird's Nest," the stadium will be able to seat 91,000 people and comes with a price tag of 3.13 billion yuan ($391.5 million). It will host the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the athletics and soccer finals for the Games.
    Venue construction was all going smoothly, Chinese Olympics officials said at a press conference on Thursday (December 7).
    "We started implementing the three Olympic principles (to present a green, high-tech and humanistic Games) in the year 2006. These three principles we promised in our bid for the 2008 Games are being carried out at full speed this year. Progress we have made this year will lay a solid foundation for next year when all the Olympic-related construction will be finished," said Wu Jingjun, chief engineer of Olympic venue construction.
    China is building or refurbishing 31 venues in the city for the Olympics, which will begin on the auspicious date of Aug. 8 2008.
    Beijing's preparation for the 2008 Games has been stained by a corruption scandal earlier this year, in which the city's vice-major LIu Zhihua was sacked. Liu had been in charge of building of the Olympic venues as well as the $40 billion upgrade of the city's infrastructure in time for the Games. He was fired in June accused of corruption and bad morals.
    Wu Jingjun stressed that Liu was neither a member of that body and nor would his case affect construction.
    "After the Liu Zhihua case came out, although it was a personal problem, the city government increased supervision over Olympic venue construction. We are confident that the building process will be even more transparent," said Wu. The International Olympic Committee values transparency above all after being rocked by a huge bribery scandal in the late 1990s surrounding bids to host the Games.
    Until Liu's dismissal, the only issue causing the committee concern had been that the construction of the venues might be moving too quickly and Beijing risked running up huge bills maintaining empty facilities.
    In China the ruling Communist Party has embarked on a huge corruption drive over the last few years with nearly 50,000 officials prosecuted and punished up to the end of 2005.
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