4 billion funded by public and private funds

End of November, Chinese engineers all held their breath when giant cranes came out beams of maintaining the structure of the new national stadium in Beijing. "It was one of the most sensitive times," says Henry Zhang, the Director of the society for the construction of the arena, called by the Beijing "the bird's nest", both the tangle of its steel frame recalls, by far, the lightness of a nest of twigs.

Designed by Herzog and Meuron Swiss architecture firm, the enclosure of 91.000 tickets required 42,000 tonnes of steel, or six times the volume used to the structure of the Eiffel Tower. 3,000 workers (7,000 at the peak of construction) are still twenty-four hours a day on the project, as all the Olympic venues, will be completed end of 2007, more than seven months before the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing on August 8, 2008.

Located 300 metres from the stadium, the "water cube", a strange aquatic complex, whose walls consist of huge membranes plastic representative of bubbles of water, will be ready as early as next October.

If, in 2004, Athens had completed its preparation for a few hours before the opening ceremony, the Chinese Government was careful not to take any risk with an event that should allow it to expose the rest of the world the extent of his new power. Since that it took the organisation of the competition in 2001, the country lived entirely turned towards this deadline. For the authorities in Beijing, the 2008 OJ will be sports but also political and economic. Several areas of the country already live on an Olympic schedule. Local telecoms operators and the major domestic manufacturers, as foreign, thus expect in the months to come the licensing of third generation mobile telephony.

The regime who wishes to affirm its image of modernity wants to, for the opportunity, new networks for the 7 million spectators expected in different stages of the city, to access on their laptop video summaries and quality photos. Great energy production sites, for the construction of railways and of the giant real estate programs are also determined by the event.

Many political arbitration are taken under the same influence. To be certain of defusing in the eighteen months that any incident potential, the authorities tightened their control over the press and the protesters. At the same time, they have multiplied charitable speeches to found populations at risk for potentially explosive. The needs of farmers and migrant workers thus began to be considered. Make sure that no event will come to spoil the party, meant to weld the nation on its leaders.

The fight against corruption, gangrene a large part of the high administration and irritated more and more companies, has also been accelerated. In June, Liu Zhihua, the Vice-Mayor of Beijing overseeing all work related to the games, was dismissed from his post and handed over to investigators of the party. "It is an individual case that has no impact on the preparations," provides Wu Jingjun, spokesman for the Committee to support multiple sites.

Lambasted for his "provincialité" and its moral conservative, the capital, which comprises all major institutions and the Communist Party, wants to return to top on Shanghai the insolent, who always most impressed foreigners with its skyscrapers and its White nights. To ensure the revival of the city, the Organizing Committee has released major means. It is equipped with an operational budget of $ 2.4 billion, funded by public and private funds.

62 new roads built

Eleven companies "Olympic partners", whose Volkswagen and Adidas have solicited and about 20 sponsors and official suppliers. "We want to recoup our investment." "We believe today that we can even identify a profit of $ 16 million," says Sun Weide, the very energetic Director of communication of the Committee of the games.

Estimated, for now, at $ 2.8 billion, construction or renovation of 45 Olympic venues were also funded on public-private partnerships. Consortium subsidizing half of 3.1 billion yuan (400 million dollars) of the "bird's nest" Stadium retained, thus, for thirty years, the management of the building before making it to the municipality.

Is dreaming, in turn, in megalopolis futuristic, Beijing, on the other hand, launched the construction of 62 new roads, 4 bridges and 8 lines of Metro or railway. The new airport will be also opened at the time, as well as water treatment plants. In total, the city should spend 35.6 billion in new infrastructure. "The entire population will benefit from this work for a long time," said his spokesman.

According to official polls released by Xinhua, the State Agency, 41 of the 16 million residents feel able to take advantage of an improvement in their living conditions. It promises less serious congestion, especially finally breathable air and a real network of public transport. Etouffée by its plants, its coal-fired power plants and its 2.8 million vehicles (1,000 more each day), the capital Chinese lives, most of the year, a fat clevis and grey. According to a recent report by the National Meteorological Administration, 80 of the rains last August were acidic, responsible for releases of sulphur dioxide and of oxides of nitrogen. "There are positive signs of change, but we still have issues to resolve," said the head of the communication.

Visiting Beijing end of October, Jacques Rogge, the President of the international Olympic Committee, called on the Government to not relax its efforts. "He also said that the promises made by China were becoming realities," conscientiously full Sun Weide.