Just this winter, the area has been hosting numerous winter sports events such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Alpine Skiing Tournament, the Chongli International Skiing Competitions (including the FIS Alpine Skiing Points Race and FIS Alpine Skiing Far East Cup), the Chongli National Skiing Competitions (including the National Snowboarding Championships and the National Slalom Friendly), the Chongli International Skiing Festival, the "Snow & Ice to Ten Thousand Homes" event, the "Future Star" Sunshine Sports Event and Skating Competition, and the "Qingshuihe" Ice Carnival.
We are confident that the weather conditions will be adequate in these areas both for the forecasted period of the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Given that five ski resorts have already been operating successfully in Zhangjiakou, no further snow-making measures will be implemented just for the Games in addition to what is already in place or factored in the plan of the ski resorts' development regardless of the Games. Artificial snow-making facility covers all the ski resorts, and the water-storage ponds and water delivery systems needed for artificial snow-making are also already in place.
The snowboarding and free-style competitions will be held in the Genting Resort Secret Garden. This ski resort was put into operation in 2011, and has been running for 4 years. It now has 3 water-storage ponds with a total capacity of 200,000 cubic meters. Therefore, the snowboarding and free-style competitions will only need to use the existing water-storage facilities of the Genting Resort Secret Garden.
To better ensure the development of the ski resorts and the tourism industry in the region, the municipal government of Zhangjiakou began to implement the Yunzhou Reservoir water diversion project in 2013. The water diversion project gets water from the Yunzhou Reservoir in Chicheng County, and can divert 5 million tons of water a year. Under the water diversion project, the main water-storage pond is being built at Changchengling near the Games Zones. This project is expected to be completed in 2015.
During the Olympic Games, for Nordic Combined and Biathlon, the snow area in the Games Zones of Zhangjiakou will be about 1.3 million square meters, and the water needed for centralized snow-making will be about 360,000 cubic meters. The total capacity of the Yunzhou Reservoir is 102 million cubic meters, and therefore, the impact of the water use of the Olympic Games on the normal water use of the reservoir will be very limited.
In Yanqing, Beijing 2022 designed a storage container to hold water for snow making within the secure perimeter of the National Alpine Ski Centre. The water resources are the local surface run-off waters and the Fengyukou reservoir, which is 8.5 km away.
Regional authorities are set to implement a strict evaluation system on water resource development and use, adopt a differentiated system of water prices and eco-compensation, and promote water saving and reasonable development and utilization, to create maximum ecological, economic, and social benefits. During recent years Zhangjiakou has continuously promoted water circulation use technology in large ski resorts and among local residents, which can significantly reduce water demands of ski resorts and local residents' production and living.
Beijing has provided details of how it is tackling urban air pollution. What measures have already been implemented and what is planned?
Wang: The Beijing 2022 Bid Committee works in close collaboration with the public authorities of Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou areas in order to ensure the best environmental conditions for athletes to train and compete at the 2022 Games.
However, improving pollution was made a priority for these authorities long before the idea of Beijing 2022 came into existence. It is a key priority of the Chinese government to improve citizens' living standards and health conditions, in particular through the improvement of air quality in urban areas.
These improvements are real and are the results of a wide range of concrete measures. As part of China's 12th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (2011-2015), US$ 468 billion have been invested in creating a green, low-carbon economy with special attention to key economic sectors. In 2014 alone, China closed 392 polluting companies and took 476,000 old vehicles off the roads. The creation of any new coal-fired power plants has been banned in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou since 2013. China's environmental protection industry is expected to continue growing at an average of 15-20 per cent per year and its output is expected to reach US$ 743 billion during the new five-year period.
In line with the above, the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau adopted earlier this year legally binding regulations for reducing air pollution and it is determined to ensure that the city meets official standards for air quality by 2022, in particular reducing the concentration of PM2.5. The city authorities plan to allocate a significant portion of funding towards air pollution treatment in the next five years, which amounts to nearly 50 billion Yuan (USD 8.06 billion).
A special focus has been made on transport integration and geographical redistribution of industrial companies with a parallel upgrade of the material and technologies of the existing industries in accordance with international environmental standards. By heating season in 2016, all the four main coal fired power plants will be shut down and by 2017, coal consumption in Beijing will decrease to less than 10 million tons.
Recently released studies by Greenpeace have revealed a decrease of more than 13% in the average level of PM 2.5 in our city's air during the first quarter of 2015. All of these statistics give us confidence that, while there is still a lot to do, we are moving in the right direction.
These plans will be implemented independently of the bid's outcome.
Improving the air quality will not only benefit the Games, but will more importantly remain as a long-term legacy for people living in the region. If successful, Beijing 2022 Games would be one of the direct beneficiaries of these positive changes.
What comes next for the bid from now to end of July?
Wang: With just two months to go until the 2022 Olympic Winter Games host city elections, the Beijing 2022 team is working around the clock, focusing on the presentation in Lausanne on June 9th and 10th, as well as the final presentation in Kuala Lumpur on July 31st.
Since the inception of the bid, we have planned an inspired vision of a "Joyful Rendezvous upon Pure Ice and Snow", highlighting the bid's three concepts of hosting a Winter Games that is "athlete-centered, sustainable and economical". We have followed the IOC's technical requirements, and made full use of our Olympic legacy and our rich experience of hosting international events. At the same time, we have made practical plans based on suggestions made by domestic and international experts as well as athletes.
We are confident that we are on the right track to convince the IOC members that Beijing is the right choice for a successful 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
