There is no expense being spared for the 2008 Olympic Games. The Games will be an important point in China’s history, a living example to the world of China’s impressive economic success and growing prosperity.

As a result the Chinese Olympics promises to be the most expensive sports event in human history.

The summer 2004 Olympics in Athens cost RMB32 billion. It pushed the country’s budget into a deficit. A lot of money. The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing can break this record.
In official estimates, in the 2002-2007 period investment in the Olympic preparations should reach about RMB138 billion, $18 billion. But that is a budgeted figure and it is well known that budgets — especially government budgets — get broken.

But the money as it is spent brings benefits to China. The construction of housing and transport facilities; the development of domestic high-tech companies working in electronic instrument-making and machine-building. Beijing’s economy has been streamlined and the environment has been improved although there is much work still to be done in this area.

In official figures, the Beijing economy can attribute a 2.07% addition to the annual growth rates solely to the projects created by the Olympic Games. The programs already implemented are bringing more than $1 billion a year to the municipal budget.

Most of the spending has been government spending but companies have also been adding to the investment. Some companies are sponsoring the Olympics, for example General Electric and Eastman Kodak. Others have invested in sports hoping for future dividends.

After the games Olympic facilities will be used for trade and entertainment as well as for sport. This is what has happened in Australia where the Olympic centre is used for a wide range of activities including the annual agricultural show.

The Beijing Organizing Committee is not worried about the quite massive investment and its ability to recoup it. A high-ranking Chinese official said: ‘The main goal of the Olympic investment is to create an infrastructure that will serve the people of Beijing after 2008 as well. We will make the Olympic budget profitable. We are doing all we can for our Games to be one of the best, and they will bring us money.’

Add up all the benefits, throw in the rights to television broadcasting of competitions, add sponsor incomes and money from ticket sales (worth almost $1 billion.) Beijing will come out of these games with a much improved city. And, very possibly, a profit.
Source: Rian Novosti