BEIJING, China -- Construction of the venues for the 2008 Beijing Olympics
has hit problems but organizers are confident they will still be delivered on
schedule at the end of next year.
The National
Stadium has taken a primary shape. [newsphoto] |
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Twenty of the 31 competition venues in Beijing are under construction.
Work is well under way on the centre piece National Stadium and the
revolutionary Aquatics centre.
Construction office chief Jun Yuan denied that steel shortages --- 110,000
tonnes are required for the National Stadium alone -- were delaying the project
and said the venues would be delivered on time.
"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," Wang Zhiyuan, the
chief economist of the Beijing 2008 construction office, told a news conference
on Tuesday.
"All the projects will be finished by the end of 2007, some of them by August
or September 2007 to allow for testing," he said.
"We are facing two problems," Jun added. "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."
Jun said the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) was
placing great emphasis on the human side of the Games and the venues needed to
reflect this.
"The basic hardware of the buildings will be ready but we must also furnish
the venues to embody the human aspect of the Beijing Olympic Games and in this
aspect we have much work to do," he said.
"The details will decide whether we will succeed or fail and we are paying a
great deal of attention to this important element of hosting such a big event."
"It will not only look good but be functional too."