Beijing's hosting of the Olympic Games in 2008 will bring business opportunities to domestic and foreign investors.
Olympic investment and foreign participation
Beijing Olympic Games Organising Committee ("BOGOC") has committed to invest RMB 180 billion Yuan (USD 21.7 billion) into the city in preparation for hosting the Olympic Games in 2008. A number of Chinese companies and foreign investors have begun bidding for various projects. More than 600 foreign companies from Europe, North America and Southeast Asian countries have already showed interest.
Infrastructure, environmental protection and high-tech projects
Most of the investment from BOGOC will be put into infrastructure, environmental protection and high-tech projects. USD 3.6 billion will be contributed to the construction of more than 100 kilometres of railways. Although Chinese rivals have the advantage in terms of price, foreign companies with advantages of sophisticated machinery and good management are expected to put forward competitive bids. To improve the environment in Beijing, 5 billion cubic meters of natural gas and large amounts of electricity are to replace all household coal consumption and most industrial coal consumption in the urban areas. All the hot water and most of the electricity for the air conditioning and lighting for the Beijing Olympic Games gymnasiums and villages will be provided by solar and geothermal energy. Beijing needs co-operation with investors from other countries who may bring advanced clean energy technology. Projects in controlling car exhaust emissions, afforestation, relocation of industries, sewage treatment and waste recycling will also be processed in the next few years.
Sports industry, tourism, services, retail sectors and credit card business
Sports industry, tourism, services, retail sectors and credit card business will be stimulated by the games.
BOGOC will contribute USD 480 million to the construction of Olympic village and USD 100 million to the building of sports venues. International standard stadiums and high-quality sports facilities are needed. Beijing is considering several options for utilising international resources to build an Olympic village and sports venues, including joint ventures, technological co-operation and transfer of management rights.
Beijing will host tens of thousands of international athletes and coaches and will embrace an unprecedented tourism wave in the next seven years. The number of star-ranked hotels will be doubled by 2008. RMB 200 million Yuan (USD 24 million) will be put toward the reconstruction of public toilets.
Smoother approvals of foreign investment to service industries are expected. Financial services, for instance, availability of services to help athletes, coaches and travellers from all over the world to use world-wide credit cards in Beijing are expected to open the market for credit card companies such as Visa and Master Card.
For further information and guidance please contact Luke Filei on [email protected] or +86 10 6590 0389 in Beijing or +86 21 6289 6363 in Shanghai.
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