Business / Economy

Winter Olympics will be a major boost: Officials

By Sun Xiaochen (China Daily) Updated: 2014-03-19 07:38

"The level of social and economic development in Beijing is much higher than the average level in Hebei and the gap has widened over recent years because superior resources have been allocated to Beijing," Liu said.

"The lack of major international cooperative program is one of the key reasons why this area couldn't develop into an urban aggregation like the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta. If the bid succeeds, this is a great opportunity."

According to a plan announced by the bidding committee during the Sochi Winter Olympics, the MasterCard Center in Beijing, host of the 2008 Summer Olympics' basketball tournament, would stage most of the ice sports, while the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, would host the opening and closing ceremonies.

The 2008 Olympic heritage featuring ready-made facilities and cultural icons represents a huge advantage to Beijing in winning the bid again, Yang said.

"We have almost all the required venues here so the cost of construction and rebuilding will be limited," he added.

Nonetheless, a stadium with a 400-meter track for long-distance speed skating needs to be built in the Olympic Center, Yang said.

Some of the skiing events, including Alpine skiing, would be held at venues in Beijing's Yanqing county located between Beijing and Zhangjiakou, which is about 220 kilometers from central Beijing. It would host most of the other ski sports in Chongli county.

The joint bid has already led to major projects being launched in Hebei.

To cut travel time, the construction of a high-speed railway connecting Beijing and Zhangjiakou will begin this year and is expected to be finished in 2017. The train trip will take only 40 minutes compared with the current four-hour drive.

A further boom in the tourism industry is also envisioned in the future, said Yang Jingzhi, former deputy director of Hebei provincial sports bureau.