1. Hot Off Press: Minister: Build venues ‘in the sun’
2. Stadia 2004 Exhibition: Overview and contact info if interested in participating
3. Partner with China’s State General Administration of Sports (SSGA) to develop future stadium construction standards
1. Hot off the Press: Minister: Build venues ‘in the sun’
(source: China Daily, 1/12/2004)
Deputy Supervision Minister Huang Shuxian yesterday urged the Beijing municipal government to strengthen supervision over Olympic venue construction to ensure transparency and avoid corruption. “Projects for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games should be projects ‘in the sun’,” Huang told local officials and operators of the four venues that have started construction.
He (Minister Huang) inspected the construction of the National Stadium and the National Swimming Center in North Beijing. Huang, also director of the Supervision Commission for the 2008 Games, praised supervision efforts as the first phases of four venues to be built by the Beijing Municipal Government start. “It is a good beginning,” he said.
The Beijing Municipal Government is monitoring the US$2 billion Olympic projects. Of that, US$1.8 billion is to be collected from the market through public bidding. The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Auditing has finished comprehensive auditing reports over public bidding of five Olympic projects including the National Stadium, the Olympic Village and Wukesong Cultural and Sports Center and is ready to submit them to the supervision commission, said Yang Xiaochao, the bureau director.
Yang’s bureau is also overseeing renovations in the area where the Olympic Green will be located. As the core of the Games, the Olympic Green covers the National Stadium, the Olympic Village and the National Swimming Center.
Some 9 million yuan (US$1.1 million) in erroneous budget items from seven State-owned units, have been rectified by the auditing authorities, Yang said. Venue construction will reach a peak this year as 11 gymnasiums and their accessory facilities are expected to break ground, according to sources with the Beijing Municipal Olympic Venue Construction Headquarters Office established last October.
Headed by executive vice-mayor of Beijing Zhai Hongxiang, the Beijing Olympic Venue Construction Supervision Lading Group was established last month. Every project is required to receive independent auditing and supervision from authorities in the process of bidding and construction. Strict financial rules have been drafted by local financing departments to strengthen supervision over expenditures in the construction of Olympic venues. “All of the project spending is required to strictly adhere to the authorized budget,” Zhou Yuzhen, vice-director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Supervision, said yesterday. Financial items related to Olympic projects are handled independently, with supervision from designated management staff, said Zhou.
Zhou, who represents the Beijing Municipal Olympic Venue Construction Supervision Leading Group, said a supervision information network to oversee Olympic venue construction will be completed by April. It will start trials in May.
The builder of the National Stadium and the National Swimming Center, the Beijing Urban Construction Group Co, yesterday vowed to try its best to avoid corruption in purchasing. “Purchasing of over 300,000 yuan (US$36,000) will be done through bidding,” Yang Shoujiang, supervision chief of the company, yesterday said, noting no single manager could decide on a project.
The bidding process has resulted in prices 15 to 18 percent lower than average, Yang said.
A total of 35 venues will be used during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, including 30 in Beijing and five in Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Shenyang, Tianjin and Shanghai, said sources with the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.
2. Stadia China 2004 Conference, Feb 16-18, 2004 Beijing, China
The U.S. Commercial Service in Beijing, China is pleased to invite American companies providing services and products in support of the 2008 Olympics Stadia construction to develop their business prospects in the burgeoning market of the People’s Republic of China by displaying their company literature in the Commerce Department booth at the Stadia 2004 Conference on February 16-18, 2003. Supported by the Beijing Municipal Government and the Chinese Government’s Sports Facilities Construction and Standards Authority (SFCSA), Stadia 2004 is strategically set in Beijing during the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympiad Games of the XXIX Olympiad’s implementation phase.
With the release of the tendering projects for the Beijing Olympic Green and other infrastructure projects’ s commencement before 2003, the conference and its concurrently-held Stadia China 2004 will attract many of the major international companies seeking to obtain business ahead of the 2008 Games.
But it also provides the perfect forum for an exclusive 2-day business conference covering high profile issues by high profile Chinese and international speakers. Local Chinese dignitaries will be present and a number of Chinese owners of Olympic facilities, will be explaining in detail the on-going construction opportunities available to consultants, designers and materials and services suppliers.
To sign up for this event, please contact: zheng.xu@mail.doc.gov
Mr. Xu Zheng
Commercial Assistant
U.S. Foreign Commercial Service
Beijing, China
(86-10) 8529-6655 x833
or visit our website at:
http://www.buyusa.gov/china/en/stadiachina2004.html
3. Partner with China’s State General Administration of Sports (SSGA) to develop future stadium construction standards
If you are an American company interested in selling your products/services in the following categories and also interested in working with China’s SSGA to develop SSGA’s future construction standards, please e-mail:
matthew.gettman@mail.doc.gov :
Running Tracks
Tennis Courts
Artificial Turf for Soccer fields
Natural Turf for Soccer fields
Multi-purpose wooden floors
LED Displays
Swimming Pools
Ice Rinks
Intelligence Systems for sports buildings/structures