New towns part of buildup for Olympic Games
By Li Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-04-19 09:30

As big companies jostle to get a share of Olympic businessin the lead up to the 2008 Games, Beijing is attempting to funnel some of their money into its outskirts in order to balance urban and rural development.

Intentions to construct six new, small towns were revealed yesterday at the Market Promotion Conference on the Olympic Economy, which was jointly hosted by 16 municipal government departments.

The projects are among efforts to ease the pressure on central Beijing and forge a brand-new city layout with several new core areas, said Jiang Lige, an official with the Beijing Development and Reform Commission.

The satellite townships will be scattered throughout the districts of Daxing, Fangshan, Tongzhou, Pinggu, Huairou and Shunyi, said Jiang.

"The municipal government will quicken the reform of the household registration system to allow the rapid flow of people to the new towns," said Jiang. "All those who have legal residency, jobs or sources of incomes are eligible to register to live in these towns."

Besides announcing the creation of the town the municipal government put forward more than 380 projects seeking co-operation during the two-day conference, most of which would be initiated in the suburbs.

These projects involve an investment of more than 134 billion yuan (US$16.2 billion), according to organizers.

Zhang Mao, Beijing's vice-mayor, said the city will try to realize an essential shift of its development strategy and speed up the development of economically less developed rural areas in the drive to prepare for the 2008 Games.

Experts point out that a modern Olympics is more than an international sporting event. It can also produce fundamental social, environmental and economic changes to a host city.

Beijing's traffic congestion is another area that might be assisted as the city moves toward 2008 Olympic Games.

Zhou Zhengyu, vice-director of the Beijing Communications Commission, said about 63 billion yuan (US$7.6 billion) will be sunk into urban railway construction and another 30 billion yuan (US$3.6 billion) will be spent on making new highways.

"We will use multi-channels to raise funds, such as raising them in market, transfering operational rights or attracting industry investment funds," said Zhou.

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