'Government not sacrificing poor for Winter Olympics'

The Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing, China, which will host the 2022 Winter Olympics

Beijing, Aug 6 (IANS) The expenditure incurred by China on the 2022 Winter Olympics will in no way affect its effort to alleviate poverty in the country's remote areas, a state-run daily reported on Thursday.

The response came as several Chinese media organisations have criticised the government for ignoring the poverty-stricken areas by spending huge sums of money on the 2022 Winter Olympics to be held in Beijing, People's Daily reported citing Global Times.

"The investment in the Olympics has nothing to do with helping the poor," the daily said.

The daily went on to say that "most of the money to be used on the Winter Olympics will come from the Beijing municipal government, and only a tiny portion of the expenses will be allocated by the central government, so the spending on the Olympics will in no way affect the central government's effort to alleviate poverty in China's remote areas."

"Of the $3.07 billion budget for the Olympics, $1.56 billion will be used on the holding of competitions, and of this amount, only $94 million will be subsidised by the central government," the newspaper said.

"Of the $1.51 billion to be used on the construction of venues, 65 percent will come from investments from non-government sources and of the remaining 35 percent, $485 million will be funded by the Beijing municipal government, and the central government will be only responsible for $49 million," the daily concluded.