Liu: 13 billion yuan spent on cost-efficient Olympics

Full coverage: Press conference on cost-efficiency Olympic Games

(BEIJING, August 1) -- Beijing has implemented the core principle of cost efficiency in preparing for the 2008 Olympic Games, said Liu Zhi, spokesman for the Beijing Olympics as well as the municipal government, at a press conference held at 3:00 pm on August 1.

The estimated budget for the Games will be within 13 billion yuan (1.91 billion U.S. dollars), Liu said, of which half comes from the central and municipal governments and half comes from social financing, including contributions from compatriots in Hong Kong, Macao and Chinese Taipei.

The budget includes the cost of building a total of 12 new venues, renovating 11 existing venues, constructing eight temporary venues and renovating 45 stand-alone training sites, but does not cover auxiliary facilities such as Olympic Forest Park and the Olympic Village.

In terms of the capital input in the operation of the Games, the current edition of the budget amounts to over two billion U.S. dollars, although the actual figure can only be determined after the Games. According to Liu, the income part of the budget is satisfactory and the overall budget can be secured.

Since 2001, major infrastructure investment in Beijing has amounted to 280 billion yuan. All the projects are fulfilled in accordance with the 11th Five-Year Plan for the city and were originally slated to be completed by 2010. Because of the Olympic Games, these projects have been finished ahead of time.

"We made the existing utilizations with an eye on post-Games utilization and subjected all those facilities to scientific assessment. For temporary venues, we would not allow new constructions," Liu said in his explanation for how the Beijing Olympic Games managed to implement the principle of cost-efficiency.

BOCOG has put six venues on university campuses in Beijing. The facilities already available at the universities solve the problem of after-Games use of the venues. The Wukesong Basketball arena, on the other hand, has been reduced in scale from the original plan of 117,000 square meters to the existing 63,000 square meters, saving 500 million yuan in construction costs.

Liu described ways in which the Olympic Games has improved the quality of life for local people, as reflected in the slogan "New Beijing, Great Olympics." Since the 1990s, the city has entered a period of rapid development, he said, and the successful bid for the Games has accelerated overall economic development.

Liu said that Beijing residents now enjoy higher incomes, larger and better housing, improved public transport, a better living environment in terms of pollution control, more cultural and recreational facilities and more public sports facilities.