2008 Beijing Olympics: Opportunities for California Firms

I. Overview

Beijing Olympic Project Contracts Open to California Firms

Beijing has won the bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympic Games and is embarked on an impressive program of construction and investment in preparation for the Games. In preparation for its 2008 Green Olympics, Beijing plans to spend a total of US $34 billion on the Olympic Games, including $22 billion for modernizing the Chinese Capital. Beijing Mayor Liu Qi said that in order to stage the best ever Olympic Games in history in 2008, Beijing would build the most advanced venues and facilities in the world.

The program is one of the most ambitious and impressive infrastructure undertakings ever, and will include extensive Olympic-related sports venues and facilities, major enhancements to transportation and telecommunications networks, and installation of environmental protection systems.

Beijing’s commitment to host the “best-ever” Olympic Games will require expert input from all over the world and presents tremendous opportunities for California firms. Construction and renovation of all new Olympic venues will be open for public bidding worldwide and Beijing Mayor Liu Qi has stressed the importance of enrolling the talents and know-how of foreign businesses in the city’s Olympic preparations. Bid Committee experts have already traveled to Australia, North America, Europe and Malaysia to take advantage of foreign experience in management of the entire process, from design and construction to operation and management of sports venues and surrounding facilities.

California firms are well positioned to secure contracts for the many Beijing 2008 Olympic Games projects through an open bidding system. Municipal authorities and relevant central government departments are making preliminary preparations for the invitation of bids from around the world. Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Bid Committee Deputy Secretary General Ping Yongquan emphasized that Beijing will invite global bids for the design, construction and management of most of the Olympic venues and the Olympic Village to ensure that “they are up to top standards in every respect.” He added that Beijing is considering several options for utilizing international resources to build and operate the sports venues, including joint ventures, technological co-operation and the transfer of management rights.

Beijing has planned 32 venues for the 2008 Olympics. Among them, 13 currently exist, but will be renovated. An additional 19 structures will be built.

Olympic-related business opportunities for California firms span a broad range of products and specialties including:

Environmental Technologies, products and services (wastewater treatment, pollution control and reduction devices, remediation, recycling, alternative power sources, etc.);
Energy, Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Resources (‘smart’ building technologies, light emitting diodes, renewable energy, fuel cell technology, etc.);
Information Technology and telecommunications;
Multimedia;
Security, Surveillance, X-ray and security scanning equipment;
Transportation and Transportation management equipment;
Architectural and Project design;
Construction Services, Construction Equipment, Construction Materials;
Project Management;
Medical Devices, Instrumentation and Health Care Infrastructure;
Tourism and Hospitality, Hotel and Restaurant Supplies and Management;
Food, Beverage and Wine Export;
Computer, Software, Hardware and related products;
Professional Services including Banking, Legal and Accounting;
Television Broadcast and Syndication;
Licensing, Branding, Sponsorship Rights;
Industrial Machinery, Electronic and Electrical Equipment.

California companies are well situated to benefit from Beijing’s economic boom and to develop even stronger and expansive business in China as it prepares for the 2008 Olympics.

II. General Timetable

The current development plans for the Beijing 2008 Olympics are as follows:

September 2001 to the end of 2002	Modification of the Games Master Plan
Mid 2002 to the end of 2002	Preparation of tendering documents for the architectural design of various infrastructure projects
Mid 2002 to the end of 2003	Modification of the Master Plan for the Beijing Olympic Green (Olympic Park project) and the Olympic Athletes Village
The end of 2002 or before mid 2003	Release of the tendering projects for the Beijing Olympic Green and other infrastructure projects to commence
Before the end of 2003	Beginning of construction work for the Olympic Green and the Athletes Village
From 2003 to 2005	Acceleration of all construction works and commencement of design and contracting out of Olympic Overlay projects
Before the end of 2006	Complete construction of all the main arenas and start testing of related systems through hosting of international matches
From early 2007	Start to train volunteers, professional management staff and other related personnel
Before the end of 2007	Completion of all the directly related infrastructure projects, such as transportation systems, telecommunication systems

III. Industry Sectors

1) Environment

The Olympic Organizing Committee has announced its decision to develop Beijing into a "green city" to mark the Beijing 2008 Games as the “Green Olympics”. Beijing will invest a total of 12.2 billion U.S. dollars to protect the ecological environment from the period of 1998-2007. The following indicate 3 focused sectors in the environmental protection plan:

a. Water – Beijing will improve the quality of drinking water to meet WHO standards. By 2008, Beijing will be able to treat an estimated 2.8 million tons of sewage daily. By 2007, 14 additional wastewater treatment plants will be built to increase the treating capacity to 90% of the city’s total production. 50% of the treated wastewater will be reused. Water-saving equipment will be widely introduced in the Olympic Village and all competition venues. Beijing will also require rainwater collection and recycling facilities and will consider using eco-toilets that require little or no water for flushing.

b. Air -- Beijing will upgrade its air quality to meet WHO standards. Stricter exhaust gas emission standards for motor vehicles will be enforced in 2007 to reduce exhaust gas emission by 60%. According to the Beijing Olympics official site, by 2007, 90% of the buses and 70% of the taxis will use clean natural gas. Beijing will consume five times as much natural gas as in 2000. No fuel coal will be used except in a few large boilers in power plants. Beijing will restructure its key industries and 200 industrial enterprises in the downtown area will shift their production facilities to outlying locations to reduce the city’s air pollution.

c. Garbage – Beijing will use high technology to sort, dispose and recycle garbage. The regenerated refuse will be reused as building materials. Beijing currently has 80% of its urban garbage safely disposed of. . By 2007, the amount will increase to 100%. At the same time, 50% of the domestic waste will be sorted before being collected and 30% will be recycled.

d. Ecological Environment – According to the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee, trees will be newly planted to cover 70% of Beijing’s mountainous areas by 2007. It will also develop more than 23,000 hectares of green belts along the major rivers and roads and 12,000 hectares of forest strips to separate the city from the surrounding countryside.

2) Information Technology / Telecommunications

Beijing will apply the newest technology to ensure that the Olympic Games will be the most innovative “High-Tech Olympics” and “Digital Olympics”. In order to achieve this goal, Beijing will invest about 3 billion US dollars to upgrade its telecommunications infrastructure facilities and will promote online government services, e-commerce and user-friendly online information centers.

Beijing will use broadband networks, fiber-optic networks, and digital cable TV networks to ensure high-definition TV transmissions from all Olympic venues. Beijing will also build high efficient call centers to handle high volumes of incoming calls.

By the end of 2008, all the taxis in Beijing will be equipped with advanced wireless telecommunication systems and Global Positioning Systems (GPS).

Intelligent transport systems will be used to improve safety transport services. In addition, a high-tech Transportation Supervision and Coordination Center will play a major role in controlling Beijing’s traffic, as will other systems including computers, and a traffic monitoring and guiding accident-reporting system.

3) Transportation

By 2007, a fairly sophisticated city transportation network will be built. Beijing plans to build the following transportation infrastructure by 2008. Meanwhile, GPS and surveillance systems will also be installed on all Olympic and public transport routes.

Airport

Three airports will undergo renovation: Beijing Capital International Airport, Nanyuan Airport and Xijiao Airport

Road /

Bus Stations

a. 93-km Fifth Ring Road with 35 km of urban express links

b. 105 km of major urban roads

c. 7 tracked transport routes (with combined length of 191.9 km)

d. 5 new subway lines with 114 km in length (Olympic Subway)

connecting to competition venues and Olympic Park

e. open new bus routes and new bus stations and taxi stations and

related facilities

Railway

18.93 km Bawanfen-Tongzhou light railway is scheduled to be completed by 2003.

4) Construction

Beijing will need 37 competition venues to stage various olympic events. Of these, 10 are existing venues requiring fewer modifications and 5 require some renovation. The remaining 22 will be newly built facilities.

Existing Facilities Requiring No Construction Work

	Venue	Owner/Manager
1	Olympic Sports Center Gym	State Administration for Sports
2	Beijing Shooting Range	State Administration for Sports
3	Urban Highway Circuit	Beijing Municipal Government
4	Beihang Gymnasium	Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics
5	Capital Indoor Stadium	State Administration for Sports
6	Workers’ Stadium	Beijing Municipal Federation of Trade Unions
7	Workers’ Indoor Arena	Beijing Municipal Federation of Trade Unions
8	Forbidden City Triathlon Circuits	Beijing Municipal Government
9	Shenyang Wulihe Stadium	Shenyang Municipal Government
10	Shanghai Stadium	Shanghai Municipal Government

Existing Venues Requiring Modification, Construction or Renovation

	Venue	Owner/Manager	Total Estimated Cost (US$ million)
1	Olympic Sports Center Stadium	State Administration for Sports	28.57
2	Olympics Sports Center Softball Field	State Administration for Sports	36.32
3	Ying Tung Natatorium	State Administration for Sports	28.41
4	Laoshan Mountain Circuits	State Administration for Sports	7.49
5	Beijing Country Equestrian Park	Shunyi County Government	150.74

New Venues to be Built

	Venue	Owner/Manager	Total Estimated Cost (US$ million)
1	China International Exhibition Center, Hall A*	Beijing Municipal Government	13.24
2	China International Exhibition Center, Hall B*	Beijing Municipal Government	10.61
3	China International Exhibition Center, Hall C*	Beijing Municipal Government	12.25
4	China International Exhibition Center, Hall D*	Beijing Municipal Government	13.52
5	National Stadium	Beijing Municipal Government	247.51
6	National Swimming Center	Beijing Municipal Government	46.21
7	Olympic Green Archery Field	Beijing Municipal Government	108.76
8	Olympic Green Archery Field	Beijing Municipal Government	7.80
9	National Tennis Center	State Administration for Sports	45.71
10	National Hockey Stadium	State Administration for Sports	70.17
11	Beijing Shooting Range	State Administration for Sports	37.91
12	Laoshan Velodrome	State Administration for Sports	43.13
13	Wukesong Indoor Stadium	Haidian District Government	283.05
14	Wukesong Baseball Field	Haidian District Government	36.24
15	Fengtai Baseball Field	Fengtai District Government	28.88
16	Shunyi Olympic Aquatic Park	Shunyi District Government	79.50
17	Shoutiyuan Indoor Stadium	Beijing Municipal Education Committee	34.72
18	Beitidao International Marina	State Administration for Sports	14.66
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