Beijing is seeking ways to make better use of the 12 new venues built for the Olympics, with plans to host major international sporting and cultural events.

The spectacular stadiums are expected to become part of the public life of Beijing residents and visitors, as concerts, football games, and U.S. NBA basketball games.

"The Bird's Nest will remain the same as when the track and field competitions were staged during the Olympics," said Li Jianyi, general manager of its operator, a consortium led by state-owned investment group CITIC.

The stadium would mainly host large sports events as well as entertainment events like pop concerts, he said.

It had become home to the Beijing Guoan Football Club, and a sports broker was in talks to invite Real Madrid to play there.

Hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, and shopping malls would also be erected in the second-phase construction, according to the developers. Such commercial facilities would account for about 35 percent of the total area on completion.

The Water Cube, which saw 24 new world records and the U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps snatching eight gold medals, would probably turn into the largest aquatic recreation center in Beijing.

Kang Wei, president of the National Aquatics Center Company Ltd, which runs the venue, said 6,000 makeshift seats, of the total 17,000, would be removed to make room for an artificial surf beach and other recreational and training facilities.

Areas for recreation had been designed to be about five times that of the competition area, Kang said.

The construction of recreational facilities was expected to begin after the Spring Festival in 2009, and finish in about a year.

The Wukesong Indoor Stadium would become the NBA's first facility in the country, hosting NBA China basketball games, said Zhao Yan, president of the Wukesong Sports and Culture Center.

Both the NBA China and the U.S. entertainment giant AEG were strategic partners of the Center, Zhao said.

The latter, which owns dozens of sports venues worldwide, would manage the stadium, including marketing of the facility and organization of large pop concerts, sports events and other entertainment events.

The first pop concert has been scheduled for Oct. 3, followed by NBA games and demonstration matches featuring NBA stars in the same month, and almost 100 sports events or performances have been planned throughout 2009 at the cube-shaped stadium in west Beijing.

Renovation of the National Convention Center, the fencing venue, will start at the end of October to turn the facility into a conference centre. It's expected to be in use in the second half in 2009.

Apartments at both the Media Village and the Olympic Village will be sold. The Media Village is expected to be ready for owners to move in at the end of the year, with 80 percent of apartments already sold.

The Olympic Village will be ready in the first half of next year, and 70 percent were sold before the Games.

Beijing Vice Mayor Chen Gang said public interests and environmental protection were as important as economic interests in post-Games use of Olympic venues.

(Xinhua News Agency August 31, 2008)