Although construction of venues for the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games has some problems, organizers are still confident that they will be completed on schedule by the end of next year.
Twenty of the 31 competition venues are under construction and work is well underway on the National Stadium and the National Aquatics Center.
Wang Zhiyuan, chief economist of the Beijing 2008 construction office, told a news conference Tuesday, “in the past we thought we were ahead of schedule but there have been some problems so we are now making steady progress on schedule”.
Jin Yuan, head of the construction office, denied that steel shortages were delaying the project, and added the venues would be delivered on time. He said, “all the projects will be finished by the end of 2007, some of them by August or September 2007 to allow for testing. We are facing two problems. We have adopted new technologies unprecedented in China and applying these technologies is causing difficulties. There are also some problems on the technology resource side which we are trying to tackle”.
Beijing plans to almost double the number of construction workers building the facilities by the end of the year when there will be 30,000 people working on the sites up from the present 17,000.
Beijing is spending $34 billion on stadiums, housing and other construction projects, said city officials. Spending on the Olympic venues is part of $160 billion in investment on new roads, bridges and real estate to remake the city by 2008.
The $380 million National Stadium is about half finished, with 16 of the 24 trusses already erected Jin said. The $130 million National Aquatics Center where the swimming events will be held is also half finished.
Thirty-seven competition venues will be used for the 2008 Games, including 14 new ones, 14 existing facilities that need renovation and upgrading, and nine temporary structures.
There will be 41 independent training venues in Beijing and work on 18 of them will be launched in 2006.
Of the 59 roads and five bridges to be built, seven roads have been operational, 26 roads and two bridges are under construction. In 2006 construction will begin on 19 roads and bridges near the Olympic venues.
Meanwhile in five months 16 countries will begin competing in the International Softball Federation’s (ISF) XI Women’s World Championship. The new softball stadium for the 2008 Games will also be the site for the tournament. It will not only be the first competition in that venue, but will also serve as an Olympic Test Event.
