BOCOG Calls For Design Proposals For Olympic Medals
(Source: www.chinabidding.com.cn - Jan 12, 2006)
Organizers of the Beijing Olympic Games have launched a global campaign to solicit design proposals for the medals of the 2008 Games.The solicitation starts on January 11 and ends on March 26, 2006.
"The designs for the Beijing Olympic medals should highlight the themes of 'glory and dream' and 'faster, higher and stronger'," Zhang Ming, deputy director of BOCOG's Culture and Ceremonies Department, said at the press conference. "The medals should be the material vehicles to disseminate the Olympic ideals and the concepts of the Beijing Games, to showcase China's arts, designs and scientific and technological development. They should become the unique legacy of the Beijing Games."
Designers are encouraged to use medals for previous Games as well as the emblem and mascots of the Beijing Olympic Games for reference. Anyone interested is welcome to contribute. The request forms for proposals and other related documents, including detailed information on the design requirements (see the attached backgrounder), can be downloaded from the official BOCOG website -- www.beijing2008.com. Some Beijing print media will publish the same forms and documents. The organizing committee of the medal design proposal solicitation will invite specialized art design institutes as well as individual designers to contribute their works.
The solicitation campaign is sponsored by BHP Billiton, the diversified minerals and medals sponsor of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games
Olympics To Add Oomph To Beijing Economy
(Source: www.chinabidding.com.cn - Jan 17,2006)
As Beijing counts down to the 2008 Games, some people in the host city may well be counting the money.
The Games will help the capital register sizzling economic growth and create hundreds of thousands of jobs, the city's leading statisticians said yesterday.
Because of the "Olympic factor," Beijing can expect its gross domestic product (GDP), after stripping out inflation, to grow at 9.8 percent a year leading to 2008, 0.8 percentage point higher than the average growth between 2001 and 2005, Wei Xiaozhen, a division director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics, said yesterday.
A cumulative 1.82 million jobs will be created between 2004 and 2008 thanks to the Games, Wei and her colleague Yan Ping concluded in the city's 2006 economic development report published on Sunday.
The "Olympic factor" refers to the impetus generated by 134.86 billion yuan (US$16.65 billion) in direct investment for hosting the Games, Wei said.
Based on projects listed in the Games' action plan, 79 per cent of the funds will be channeled into post and telecommunications, infrastructure facilities and improvement of the living environment, the report says.
The funding will give a shot in the arm to at least 50 industrial and business segments related to the Games, it says.
"Beijing's preparations for the Olympic Games also mean tremendous opportunities for foreign investors, who could become part of the growth story through bidding or supplying accessory products and services," Wei told China Daily.
Based on analyses of former Olympic host cities such as Seoul and Sydney, as well as ground realities in Beijing, Wei's research team estimates the "Olympic factor" will add 5.45 billion yuan (US$673 million) to the city's finance and insurance sector in five years from 2004, and 17.28 billion yuan (US$2.13 billion) to the construction industry.
The two sectors, along with retail and wholesale, real estate, computer services and software, communications and computer equipment manufacturing, will further cement their roles as Beijing's pillar industries in the years ahead, according to the report.
Construction of Olympic venues and related facilities will translate into 430,000 extra jobs in the sector in five years, the report says.
But employment will shrink significantly when construction of projects draws to an end, it adds.
Other top employers benefiting from, and bolstered by the "Olympic factor" are wholesale and retail, equipment and instrument manufacturers, and light and textile industries, the book says. For tourism, 2008 will be also a bonanza year.
The report predicts that at least 2 million more people will visit Beijing in the year, Wei said.
"In addition to the normal increase of the number of tourists, the Games will bring an extra 2 million people to Beijing during, before or after the Games including 300,000 from outside the mainland," Wei said.
Each overseas visitor is expected to spend US$1,050, while expenditure of domestic travelers will average 1,200 yuan (US$148) per person, generating combined revenue of nearly 7.7 billion yuan (US$950.1 million), the report says.
The number of visits to Beijing increased from 95.12 million in 1999 to 123.15 million in 2004, according to official statistics.
The report does not project the total number of visitors Beijing will receive in 2008, neither does it attempt to predict how much profits the Games will make.
BOCOG will Move to New Office at the Beijing Olympic Tower
(Source: www.beijing2008.com - Jan 19, 2006)
The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) announced today that 22 departments will work at the new office at the Beijing Olympic Tower till the end of the Olympic Games.
The new office is located near the central Olympic area and will be the command center during the Games in 2008.
The 19-floor Beijing Olympic Tower is a well-equipped office building that will not only meet BOCOG's heavy undertakings of the Olympic preparatory work, but will also facilitate Beijing Olympic Partners to provide their service for the Games.
Their new address is as following:
No. 267, North 4th Ring Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100083, P.R.China.
If you have any question, please feel free to reach us at (8610) 66692008.
Beijing Takes Measures To Improve Transportation
( Source: www.chinabidding.com.cn - Jan 26, 2006)
China's capital city adopted key measures last year in a bid to build up an ideal transport network for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, an official said this morning.
Beijing speeded up construction on such transportation infrastructure as the urban expressway, trunk road system and subway in 2005, Vice Director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Communication Liu Xiaoming told the media.
Last year 33 new roads were added to Beijing, accounting for a total length of 47.1 kilometers and upgrading the efficiency and capacity of the transport system.
Beijing also proactively reinforced the public use of buses to improve its traffic structure. Exclusive lines for buses saw an increase of 16.2 km compared with 2004, bringing the total length to 121 km.
In light of the expansion of the city as well as the rising number of automobiles, the Beijing Municipality has allocated 210 million Yuan for 1032 projects to ease urban traffic jam over the last three years. The city's possession of motor vehicles reached 2,583,000 by the end of 2005, an increase of 360,000 over 2004.
The city also strengthened research on communication layout and harmonious development between the communication and the city at large, with the city's first white paper on communication issued in April 2005.
SG selected official energy utility service partner of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
(Source: www.beijing2008.com - Jan 26, 2006)
The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) announced that the State Grid Corporation of China (SG) has been selected as the official energy utility service partner of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
The agreement was signed on Jan 26, 2006 between BOCOG and SG at the Great Hall of the People with attendance of Liu Jingmin, vice mayor of Beijing and BOCOG executive vice-president, Wang Wei, BOCOG executive vice-president and secretary-general, Chen Yueming and Shu Yinbiao, SG vice general-managers, and Cao Zhi'an, SG assistant general-manager.
Under the agreement signed by Wang Wei and Shu Yinbiao respectively, SG will provide the Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games and BOCOG with power supply and utility services, including power transmission, transformation and distribution services.
As a global sports event and an all-round social and cultural activity, the Olympic Games needs stable and sufficient power supply, while SG is one of the largest enterprises with rich experience and solid strength in the field, said Wang Wei.
SG is a state-owned power supply enterprise that possesses sound creditability and rich financial strength. It is responsible for providing safe and quality electric service for the nation's economy and people's life with its network covering 26 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.
Beijing 2008 Olympic Games' sponsorship program consists of three tiers: partners, sponsors and suppliers. Up till now, 11 partners have been designated, including Bank of China, China Network, Sinopec, PetroChina, China Mobile, Volkswagen, adidas, Johnson & Johnson, Air China, PICC P&amb;C and SG. The sponsors designated to date include UPS, Haier, SOHU, Yili, Tsingtao Beer, Yanjing Beer, BHP Billiton and Heng Yuan Xiang.
The Supplier tier of the program launched on Dec. 12, 2005 has been progressing smoothly.