The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad is requiring all proprietors of Olympic venues to follow "green" environmental guidelines in the construction of Olympic venues.

A so-called "green Olympics" is one of the three main concepts of the 2008 games, along with themes that include high-tech and people's Olympics.

"Enhancing the concept of environmental protection at the Olympic venue construction sites is an important way to realizing a Green Olympics," Liu Jingmin, executive vice-president of Beijing organizing committee said, speaking to potential Olympic contractors at a Sustainable Development Seminar for Olympic venues yesterday.

Liu listed several main tasks for sustainable development, including:

controlling air pollution, especially reducing the coal and industrial pollution and vehicle discharges

effective disposal of municipal sewage and municipal refuse

raising the green land acreage to 50 percent

"In order to achieve these goals, we need to carry out our green Olympics concept into the whole construction process at all Olympic venues, which is the biggest part of Olympic preparations," Liu said.

In addition to the four Olympic venues upon which workers broke ground last year, there will be 11 new venue projects starting this year.

Many of construction firms used are non-governmental companies and are selected through an international bidding process.

"Only with the cooperation of all venue contractors and owners and relative government departments can we present a green and healthy Olympics to the public," Liu said.

(China Daily March 1, 2004)