Beijing will start work on a new international exhibition center -- claimed to be Asia's largest -- at the northern end of the city's middle axial road by 2003.
The plan has been approved by the State Council, China's central government. The existing China International Exhibition Center at another site will be used for other purposes, Beijing Youth Daily reported Wednesday.
According to the newspaper, the new exhibition center will cover an area of 670,000 square meters. Buildings at the center will have a combined floor space of 470,000 square meters, of which 200,000 square meters will be used for exhibition purposes.
The new center will be part of the Beijing Olympic Park and should be open by 2006. By then, it will be the largest exhibitionvenue in Asia.
The newspaper quoted Liang Wen, deputy manager of China International Exhibition Center, as saying detailed designs of thenew center will be done via international bidding.
Five billion yuan (about US$ 602 million) will be needed for first-phase construction, said Liang, adding some domestic and overseas companies have begun negotiations with his company or have shown interest in the project.
( People's Daily November 28, 2001)
