China turns to a more practical Olympic stadium
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-08-05 16:01

Organisers of the 2008 Beijing Olympics have stopped work on their 100,000-seat stadium in order to re-design it under orders to cut costs, a spokeswoman for the organisers said yesterday.

This photo displays a nest-like architecture scheme for the main stadium of the 2008 Olympics. The scheme has been pre-approved by the Beijing public during a design show in Beijing, beating the other two favorites by the smallest margin. The architecture plan, co-designed by Swiss company Herzog & DeMeuron and China Architecture Design Institute, won 3,506 votes for the first place from over 6,000 visitors to the six-day exhibition. [newsphoto/file]

Builders broke ground in December for the stadium, whose latticework of girders, dubbed the "Bird Cage" by the Chinese press, is one of the most prominent images of China's Olympic preparations.

Work has been suspended for a re-design meant to lower the cost, said Zhu Jing, a spokeswoman for the organising committee. Zhu Jing said she didn't know how long the suspension would last, the new projected cost or other details.

The suspension follows a demand by Mayor Wang Qishan last month for organisers to be more frugal. News accounts of his comments did not give details of the cost-cutting targets.

The National Stadium, designed by Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron, initially was budgeted at 3 billion yuan (US$360mil).

China regards the Olympics as a matter of national prestige and say they plan to spend US$24.2bil on new subway lines and other improvements in Beijing.

Olympic organisers are turning to private investors to cover much of the US$3.2bil cost of building facilities.

They say sports venues and athlete housing are to be sold off as luxury apartments, sports clubs and other commercial facilities after the Games.

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