After experts' studies, new trimming decisions have been made on the "Bird Nest" stadium which has drawn wide attention. 55, 000 tons of steel will be used, 10, 000 tons cut down from last time; the roof will be cancelled, which will save 250 million yuan as well as greatly enhance the safety of the construction. Plus, outlining for other stadium is underway.

The changes in "Bird Nest" are an exponent of Beijing's new round of the optimizing adjustments in the planning of Olympic stadiums for 2008. Beijing will construct by itself 18 of the totally 30 venues needed. With resources effectively exploited, Beijing has cut the planned 10 stadiums by half and increased those to be renovated and those for temporary use. Among the over 60 venues required for training about 40 will be making use of the present stadiums.

Frugality is one important instruction by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State council concerning the 2008 Beijing Games. The Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG) vowed in 2001 to "carry out the principle of frugal Olympics, save investment and value economic benefit". Liu Qi, BOCOG chairman, stressed many times that the strict budgeting and careful calculating must be carried out in the organizing. As he said, if old stadiums can be renovated, Beijing will not built new ones, and permanent ones will not be built if temporary ones can be used. In the planning and designing of new venues, the requirements of competitions and application afterward must be met at the same time.

Over the two years, Beijing has been actively seeking for a new mode featuring the leading of the government, market operation and professional running. Social investment, financing, tendering and tender-bidding mechanisms have been developed as investment from the society in venue-building accounts for over half of the total, investors have taken post-games marketing into consideration ever since the very beginning of the constructions. In terms of layout, some venues will serve universities and some comprehensive ones are planned to be built in stadium-lacking areas.

In the new round of optimizations in Olympic venues, besides the design, layout, and improving the utilization of present resources, Beijing will make full use of new technologies, materials to ensure minimum cost with quality maintained. Meanwhile, completion will be postponed from the originally 2006 to 2007. Foundation-laying of some stadiums are rescheduled to 2005 from 2004 to control the costs of construction and maintenance.

Beijing municipality vows to integrate safety, construction duration, function, quality and cost. The National Swimming Center close to the "Bird Nest" has cut 7, 800 cubic meters or an investment of 90 million yuan.

By People's Daily Online