The Beijing municipal government signed the last of the four contracts it offered through a public bidding system to build and run Olympic venues. This means the government has successfully found financing for all six of the first batch of building projects for the Olympics.
The government holds only a 15 percent stake in the projects, worth a total of RMB 20.5 billion. Public bidding for the projects kicked off in October last year and attracted 114 firms, half of them foreign.
But all the projects went to Chinese-led consortiums, many with foreign companies involved in financing and design roles. The venues are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2006 and tested in 2007.
A consortium led by Citic (China International Trust and Investment Corp) won the bid for the national stadium, which will be the central arena for the 2008 Games.