Country Update
Practicality is the New Watchword as Beiing Olympics Projects Move Forward
Source: United States Embassy, Beijing
Date: November 2004
Nearly three and one half years since Beijing's successful bid
to stage the 2008 Olympics, and three years, nine months and some
days before the opening ceremonies, preparations for the massive
- and image-defining - event are fast passing from the planning
to the construction stage. In this message we provide a snapshot
of the principal initiatives that have crowded under the "Olympic"
umbrella, and relate them to Beijing's $384 million "top
ten" Olympic S&T budget.
Some $2 billion dollars has been budgeted to build new Olympic
stadiums and renovate other ones, but the biggest show in town
is not sports facilities. It is infrastructure, roughly $20 billion
in state-mobilized investments in projects to improve Beijing's
air quality and improve its traffic flow.
Big public investments in quality of life for the 15 million
citizens of the capital area are overdue, and would probably be
moving forward, Games or no Games. But the Olympics are the hook
on which the city government hung solemn promises to the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) and persuaded the central government to
support a stronger, higher, faster attack on traffic gridlock
and poisoned air.
Early publicity for the Beijing Games tended to stress cutting
edge technology, gee-whiz electronics, and dramatic buildings
for "the best-ever Olympic Games in history." Now there
is decidedly more emphasis on achievable ends. Original plans
for an energy-wasting retractable roof have been dropped, reducing
the stadium's cost by one-third. Only one of the outer walls of
the basketball arena will be a huge electricity-intensive video
screen, not four. The transparent "teflon" membrane
of the national swimming center is reportedly under review. Plans
to build venues for some sports have been overtaken by decisions
to stage them in existing facilities, e.g., table tennis at the
Beijing University arena.
This more practical mood is traced in some reports to a thorough
review of the Olympic plans and budgets by the Hu Jintao-Wen Jiabao
leadership team. It was evident as IOC leaders visited Beijing
early this month and proclaimed themselves very satisfied with
China's preparations. At a public forum, Chinese speakers put
heavy stress on the idea that the Beijing Olympics will be "frugal,"
and "put people first." Quizzed by the press, IOC President
Jacques Rogge said "There will be no frugal Games, there
will be only good Games," but pointedly added that in evaluating
the costs and benefits, it is important not to confuse the operating
budget of the Games with the city's general development budget.
ESTH Counselor attended one of the early November events, an
"International High-Level Forum on Science and Technology
and the Olympic Games." The forum showcased several hundred
million dollars of R&D projects financed by its sponsors,
the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), the Beijing S&T
Commission (BSTC), and the Technology Department of BOCOG, the
Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games. By and large,
the S&T work is modelling and testing activity associated
with the "Olympics" broadly defined, including the massive
investments in transport infrastructure and cleaner air. It includes
the "top ten" projects that have featured in previous
meetings of the US-China Joint Working Group on the Beijing Green
Olympics, with a broader stress on applied technology. As foreseen
by Vice Director Yang Weiguang of BOCOG in the JWG dialogue with
DOE a year ago, the Chinese are choosing "mature, reliable
technology, not untested, cutting-edge technology". At the
Forum, Olympic S&T Committee (STCOG) Chairman Lin Wenyi stressed
the point. "In order to apply the most mature and reliable
technologies in the Olympic Games," she said, "Beijing
has focused on a number of R&D projects that meet the actual
needs of the games."
By the opening of the Games, total R&D investment is expected
to be over RMB 3 billion ($364 million). As of March, 2004, RMB
1.8 billion had already been allocated, according to STCOG, the
eleven agency committee (including MOST and BEPB) that channels
advanced technologies to the Olympic projects.
Environment and Air Quality Initiatives -"Green Olympics"
Beijing promised the IOC that it would achieve WHO standards
for urban air quality by 2008. Its strategy for meeting this goal
depends on major reductions in coal use, tougher fuel quality
and emissions standards, and further development of the capital's
protective greenbelt.
Control of Desertification. For two and one-half decades, the
Chinese have been planting forests to stop the desert's encroachment
on north China, and reduce the volume of silt blown into the skies
of the capital. By 2008, Beijing aims to declare victory. The
S&T component of work to "fundamentally control the deserts
in the peripheral zone of Beijing" is budgeted at RMB 780
million; it's #4 on the top ten list.
Dethroning Coal. The keystone of Beijing's commitment to reach
WHO standards for urban air by 2008 is reduction of coal consumption
in the capital to 15 million metric tons (mmt) yearly, versus
an unconstrained consumption forecast of 33.6 mmt. This is to
be achieved by substituting natural gas, electricity and LPG for
coal as a household heating and cooking fuel (minus 11 mmt), shutting
down coking ovens in big industrial plants (minus 4 mmt), and
substituting natural gas for coal in some electricity generation
(minus 1 mmt). Remaining coal-fueled power plants will be retrofit
with "mature desulfurization and denitrification technologies."
Coping with Automobile Emissions. Though the vehicle population
of the capital cannot continue to double every three years indefinitely,
the Beijing's projection of three million cars and trucks on the
road by 2008 seems highly plausible. The city has chosen to accelerate
the introduction of stricter vehicle emissions and fuel quality
standards to reach the "Euro III" level by 2008 - three
years ahead of the rest of China. Over 90 percent of Beijing's
18,000 city buses are to be using "clean energy" (generally
understood here as natural gas, but possibly including extensive
retrofit of diesel buses), and 70 percent of its taxis. Electric
vehicles will be popularized by their high-profile use in the
Olympic Village.
Water Quality and Waste Management. In its bid to host the Games,
Beijing promised that by 2008, over 90% of sewage would be treated
& 50% "recovered," while tap water quality would
reach the WHO standard. Over $485 million will be invested to
upgrade the waste treatment objectives, according to a recent
report.
The overall budget for environment protection and pollution control
work connected (however loosely) to the Olympics was put at $5.4
billion in a 2001 report. The S&T component of the clean air
work falls into two "top ten" baskets. According to
STCOG, RMB 230 million is spread over seven "clean energy"
demonstration projects mainly involving renewables: solar, biogas,
geothermal, photovoltaics, etc. Another RMB 409 million is allocated
to support the deployment of electric-powered buses and cars within
the Olympic Village.
Olympic-Related Transportation Initiatives
Urban Traffic Management. Beijing's vehicle population, already
a road-clogging 2.2 million, is forecast to by 3.0 million by
2008. By 2007, city officials forecast, GPS, GIS and information
management systems will be harnessed in a comprehensive urban
Intelligent Traffic System (ITS) network that will "increase
the efficiency of the existing road network by twenty percent."
(As discussed by its Chinese sponsors, "ITS" seems to
be any sort of advanced traffic management network technology.)
ITS is #1 on the S&T Top Ten list; researchers will study,
select, and implement correct technologies, "to ensure safe,
high effective and reliable operation of the traffic during the
period of the Olympics," at a cost of RMB 689 million ($84
million).
Urban Railways. Eight new subway/light rail lines will be built,
totalling 154 km and including a link to the Airport and an Olympic
Park branch line. Beijing's two existing subways (95 km) will
be upgraded. The work is being financed by city grants of 30 year
build and operate concessions. Tenders for four main lines have
been issued, for a total projected investment of RMB 50 billion
($6 billion); the urban railway projects altogether are expected
to cost RMB 68 billion.
Highways. More roads (264 km) and expressways (54 km) will be
completed, costing RMB 30 billion ($3.6 billion).
Information Management Initiatives: the "Digital Olympics"
In anticipation of unprecedentedly heavy demand for telecommunications
services, several billion dollars are reportedly budgeted to beef
up Beijing's broadband digital & mobile phone message handling
infrastructure. The centerpiece is a $600 million new headquarters
building in downtown Beijing for CCTV, the state broadcasting
service. Under the Digital Olympics rubric, RMB $65 million in
research funds will support a "Multi-lingual Intelligent
Information Network," able to acquire and convey Olympic
messages "anytime, by any mode." It's #6 on the S&T
top ten list. Another RMB 243 million in research funds are allocated
to simulation and testing of Olympic information security systems,
#8 on the top ten list, and described as the precursor to an advanced
information security system for Beijing City.
Other Olympic-Related Initiatives
Green Building Technology Standards. Among the S&T top ten,
this one has had significant impact. Professor Jiang Yi of Tsinghua
University, the Chinese leader of several of the US-China JWG
teams, reported to the High Tech Forum how application of a "Green
Olympic Building Assessment System" had resulted in substantial
modification to the plans for the main stadium, the basketball
venue, and other buildings. (A prototype of the system was devised
by JWG Team Four -- Tsinghua researchers and American counterparts
at the International Center for Sustainable Development). Chinese
funding of RMB 199 million was allocated to "technical specification
and application demonstration of green building."
Earth Survey Mini-Satellite. China's newly demonstrated ability
to launch earth satellites will be highlighted when it puts up
a remote sensing satellite & "constructs a system of
space information service etc. facing the Olympics." The
S&T budget, according to the top ten list, is RMB 210 million.
Weather Forecasting. The Games have stimulated an upgrade of
the East China meterological network. A multi-dimensional monitoring
system will be in place by 2008 to provide constantly updated
local weather forecasts to the Olympic authorities.
Food Safety. Research into technologies "suitable to the
Chinese situation" and conforming to international standards
and specifications, to "safeguard food security for athletes,"
has been allocated RMB 298 million in S&T funding.
Dope Testing Preparations. Finally, last on the S&T top
ten list, RMB 47 million will support testing for use of banned
performance enhancers.
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