The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is planning to authorize its official representative in China to build an Olympic village for international meetings, sports exercises, health care and vacation in the southernmost city of Sanya, an IOC official said.

The "Olympic International Village", which covers an area of 133 hectares, will have an international convention center, an Olympic Memorial, an Olympic college, a health care center, a yacht club, an oceanarium, a forest bathing place and forest villas, said Gerhard Heiberg, IOC Marketing Commission chairman, at a meeting with Hainan Province Governor Luo Baoming on Sunday in Beijing.

Sanya is the first stop of the Beijing Olympic torch relay in the Chinese mainland on May 4. It has also been the permanent host city of the annual Boao Forum for Asia since 2001. The forum is a platform for high-level interaction between leaders from Asia and the world.

The province will do its best to support Sanya to build the Olympic village and hopes the IOC to find a possible investor as soon as possible and turn the plan into reality, Luo said.

"The Olympic International Village will make athletes from the world feel at home and draw more international tourists to Sanya," Heiberg said.

"If the project was launched smoothly, financing is no problem. We will find a proper management mode and realize a win-win situation among the General Administration of Sport of China, the Chinese Olympic Committee and the Hainan provincial government."

(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2008)