Workers broke ground for the construction of Wukesong Indoor Stadium on Tuesday in continued preparation for the capital's Olympic Games.

"It is the largest venue in the west of Beijing and will embody the three concepts of the Games -- a Green Olympics, a High-tech Olympics and the People's Olympics," said Liu Zhihua, head of the Beijing 2008 Construction Headquarters.

It is the fifth Olympic venue in Beijing that has begun to be built, following the National Stadium, National Swimming Center, Laoshan Velodrome and Olympic Shooting Range.

Located to the east of the Western Fourth Ring Road, the indoor stadium will serve as the basketball venue, covering 63,000 square meters and seating 18,000 spectators. It is scheduled for completion by the end of 2007.

It will also be an important part of the 350,000-square meter Wukesong Culture and Sports Center, which will include the Wukesong Baseball Fields and other sports and commercial facilities.

After the 2008 Games, the whole center is planned to serve as a key commercial, sports and leisure venue for the people of the west of Beijing.

It is owned and managed by Beijing Wukesong Culture and Sports Center Co. Ltd., which was the first proprietor to sign a contract with the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG).

Other new Olympic venues in Tianjin and Qingdao are also under construction, and Qinhuangdao Stadium, which will host football matches during the Games, was completed last November and is already in use.

The Olympics will need a total of 36 competition venues, of which 31 will be in Beijing. Of them, 11 are to be newly built, 12 renovated, and the rest temporary facilities.

The BOCOG said construction of all remaining competition venues for the 2008 Games will get started this year.

(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily March 30, 2005)