Guangzhou, Mar 4 (ANI): Asserting that the investment for the 2010 Asian Games was within budget, Zhang Jieming, head of the financial bureau of Guangzhou, has said that the city's budget for the games was 13.6 billion yuan ($2 billion).
Zhang said the city has so far used 9.1 billion yuan, which accounts for 67 percent of the budget."I can say that the investment has been kept within the budget. The funds come mainly from the marketing development related to the games, subsidies from higher governments and the sales of the Asian Games town in Panyu district," the China Daily quoted Zhang as saying at a special news conference on Wednesday after the annual session of the local people's congress, which concluded last week.
Zhong Nanshan, a Guangzhou Municipal People's Congress Deputy, claimed at the session that the games had left the city owing some 210 billion yuan."Actually, the government debt is not as high as the figure some deputies mentioned," said Zhang.
He further said that when Guangzhou launched a bid in 2002 to host the 2010 Asian Games, the local authorities planned a budget of about 12.1 billion yuan for the games.
The local authorities, however, submitted a general investment plan of as high as 220 billion yuan to the central government after it won the bid."The 220-billion-yuan plan included the building of stadiums, Asian Games town and some key infrastructure projects from 2005 to 2010. That's why some people say that Guangzhou has invested a huge amount of money to host the games," said Zhang.
According to Zhang, the city invested as much as 109 billion yuan to improve urban infrastructure from 2005 to 2010. (ANI)
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