China's Wen urges green olympic construction

Bejing, July 18: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has urged developers of 2008 Beijing Olympics stadiums to be energy-efficient and frugal during construction, state media reported today.

Wen, who on Tuesday inspected several Olympic venues, including the iconic ''Bird's Nest'' national stadium and the ''Water Cube'' aquatics centre, said energy saving and environmental protection should be built into every project.

''There will be no talk of extravagance or ostentation in organising the Olympic Games. We should save every drop of water and every unit of electricity in the construction of the Olympic venues,'' the Beijing News quoted Wen as saying.

Wen also urged developers to ensure the quality and safety of Olympic projects and to consider how they will be used after the Games.

''Green Olympics'' is one of the key themes promoted by China's Olympic organisers, whose pledge to hold an environmentally friendly Games has seen hotels asked to use air conditioners sparingly and thousands of old taxis and buses taken off the roads in a bid to improve Beijing's notoriously foul air.

Facing rising civil discontent sparked by a number of environmental disasters this year, Wen has gone on the green offensive in recent weeks, urging local governments to curb excessive growth in energy-intensive and polluting industries that threaten to derail the country's key energy-saving targets.

China sees the Olympics as a chance to showcase its development achievements to the world and is going to great lengths to guarantee the comforts of thousands of athletes and officials who will descend on the capital.

Several hospitals have promised to provide ''Olympic-sized'' beds in case larger athletes fall ill, with one hospital in northern Beijing importing 2.5-metre-long beds priced between 10,000 and 20,000 yuan each, the paper said in a separate report.

The same hospital would also employ special chefs to try to anticipate the culinary demands of multi-cultural, and potentially fastidious, athlete patients, the paper said.

''Food is also one of major considerations. To satisfy the appetites of so many people with different customs is certainly a headache,'' the paper quoted Xu Shuo, a director at the hospital, as saying.

The China Daily said in an editorial the Olympic spirit tallied with China's vision of the world.

''To put it another way, the ideas animating the Olympics are relevant to the nation's goal to build a harmonious society,'' it said, referring to the political doctrine of President Hu Jintao.

Reuters






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