CHINA: OLYMPIC GAMES - China says its Olympic venues will not be finished ahead of schedule but assure they will be ready in time for 2008 Games

Record ID: 331785

  • Title: CHINA: OLYMPIC GAMES - China says its Olympic venues will not be finished ahead of schedule but assure they will be ready in time for 2008 Games
  • Date: 30th March 2006
  • Summary: WIDE: OF PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE BEIJING 2008 PROJECT CONSTRUCTION HEADQUARTERS OFFICE CLOSE UP: JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) SHAO SHIWEI, DEPUTY CHIEF OF THE MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE OF THE BEIJING OLYMPICS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE, SAYING: "We thought we were ahead of schedule before, but it turns out we are not. We are following the schedule, so we are almost at the same pace as the other countries. We are not going much faster than the others. It is because we are facing a lot of problems that we have to deal with one by one"
  • Embargoed: 14th April 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA2VKCZGGYB0FICXWO4N4K5Q095
  • Story Text: More than two years before it will open its doors to the world's great athletes, Beijing's "bird's nest" Olympic stadium is already taking on its distinctive shape.
    By the end of the year, over 30,000 labourers will be scrambling to complete the 31 competition venues and various infrastructure projects the city needs to host the 2008 games.
    And the Chinese government is pumping about 40 billion USD into the effort.
    But the state-of-the-art venues are posing a challenge to Olympic organisers - who announced Tuesday (March 28) that construction would be not completed as early as planned.
    "We thought we were ahead of schedule before, but it turns out we are not. We are following the schedule, so we are almost at the same pace as the other countries. We are not going much faster than the others. It is because we are facing a lot of problems that we have to deal with one by one," said Shao Shiwei, deputy chief of the Media and Communications Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games.
    Organisers now say all venues will be competed by August or September of 2007.
    The construction office denied that steel shortages --- 110,000 tonnes are required for the National Stadium alone -- were delaying the project.
    Tricky designs and cutting-edge technology were also hampering progress, they said.
    "When encountering these new technologies, new materials, new techniques, and new structure forms, we need to overcome a lot of problems in terms of technology and resources. This is the most significant difficulty we are faced with now," said Jin Yan, chief of the Beijing 2008 Project Construction Headquarters Office.
    The games are seen as a badge of legitimacy for the ruling Communist Party and a yardstick by which the world will judge three decades of economic reforms.
    Although the venues are the centrepiece of the games, most of the Olympic budget will be spent on constructing new roads and subway lines, and upgrading the city's power grid and environment.
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