Olympic Games to rev up Beijing's modernization drive

(07/29/2001) (xinhua)

Chinese economists have said that Beijing's successful bid to host the 2008 Olympics will help the city achieve modernization ahead of schedule.

Niu Wenyuan, chief scientist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that Beijing's successful Olympic bid would serve as a powerful engine for social and economic development and would greatly shorten its modernization timetable, which was outlined early this year aiming to make the Chinese capital a "modernized international metropolitan" in the middle of the century.

Ye Zhen, spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics, predicted that the "Olympic economy" will catalyze China's economic growth by attracting huge amounts of investment into sports facilities, communication systems, and airport and highway construction.

Beijing alone, he said, will invest as much as 280 billion yuan (US$33.86 billion) in the Games.

Tens of thousands of employment opportunities will be created, he said, adding that the Olympic-related economy will contribute 0. 3 to 0.4 percentage points to China's economic growth each year before 2008.

Beijing will benefit even more from the Games, according to Yu Xiuqin, an official from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics.

"We are expecting 2.5 percentage points in Beijing's annual economic growth to result from the Olympic-related economy," Yu said. "Beijing's economy will head forward with two-digit growth annually in the next ten years, and its goal of a per capita GDP of US$6,000 will be achieved ahead of the scheduled 2010. "

Better environmental protection and technical innovation will hopefully be other Olympic benefits, according to economists.

Some 45 billion yuan will be put into improving Beijing's environment in the next five years, and another 30 billion yuan will be used to develop electronic administration, electronic business and distant education to construct a "digital Beijing."

"The 2008 Olympics will certainly gear up Beijing's modernization drive," said Beijing Mayor Liu Qi.

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