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Guangzhou, China. A year from now billions of eyes will focus on Guangzhou as it hosts the Asian Games, and the booming southern Chinese metropolis is planning to put on a show fit for global recognition.

Three years ago Qatar staged what many lauded as a near-perfect Games and 2010 organizers are looking to go one better.

But they insist they are being fiscally responsible about the Games, which run from Nov. 12-27, 2010, given the global economic crisis and shrug off comparisons to the Beijing Olympics.

“In the wake of the Beijing Olympic Games, the public expectations for the Guangzhou Asian Games are higher, which poses a challenge,” the Xu Ruisheng, the city’s vice mayor and executive deputy secretary general of the Guangzhou Organizing Committee, said. “However, the Beijing Olympics may culminate in ‘sports-fatigue syndrome’ among the public, so we need to differentiate the Asian Games from Beijing to arouse public interest.”

Winning the right to host the Asian Games, the second-largest sporting event in the world after the Olympics, has led to massive construction throughout the city.

Seventy venues and training centers will be used. Some are being renovated and upgraded, while 12 are being built from scratch.

Guangzhou is working to make access to venues as smooth as possible. The city, which is plagued by chronic traffic jams, is building nine subway lines with most trains making stops at stadiums and venues.

It is all part of a massive investment into Guangzhou, which officials hope will keep the economy ticking along and leave a lasting legacy for the capital of Guangdong province.

Although Xu was coy about the size of the budget, previous estimates have put it at 200 billion yuan ($29 billion).

The Games will feature 45 countries with 12,000 athletes and officials. There will be 42 sports, up from 39 at the last Games, with cricket among the disciplines making its debut.


Agence France-Presse