Beijing may boost Olympics budget due to security concerns
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Date-Time: 2003-7-31 18:37:50 BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) - China may be forced to increase its budget for the summer 2008 Olympics by some 400 mln usd to protect against potential terrorist threats, an official with the organizing committee said. That could mean the games result in a loss for the organizers if there is no increase in originally forecast revenues, said Jiang Xiaoyu, vice chairman of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games. "Something has happened in the world... and the IOC (International Olympic Committee) hopes we can increase our budget to at least 2.0 bln usd," Jiang told reporters. The committee had originally earmarked a budget of 1.609 bln usd for the Games, anticipating total revenues of 1.626 bln usd, leaving a profit of 17 mln usd. The funds would come from the central government and a final decision on the budgetary revision will be made next year, he added. Adding to potential headaches for the organizers are fears of another outbreak of SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. Jiang said that SARS had already affected Olympic-related construction. "It is not likely that SARS will bring about any impact on the progress of the preparatory work for the Olympics in the latter half of this year," Jiang said. "I don't think SARS will affect our work later this year... as we've already succeeded in containing the disease and gained experience in preventing and fighting the contagion," Jiang added. andrew.pasek@xfn.com
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