International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials yesterday gave Beijing the thumbs up to the city's preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games after three-day visit and meetings with the organizers.

"Although there are challenges ahead, we are confident that they (the organizers) will deliver on the promises they've made," said Hein Verbruggen, chairman of the IOC Coordination Commission, at a press conference. "I've no reason to doubt it."

Traffic congestion is a major concern but Verbruggen, while admitting the roads were "busy," expressed confidence there would be no problems come August 2008. "We believe the organizers will come up with a plan so that it won't affect the Games themselves," he said.

Pressed on what could be done to improve traffic in a city where over 1,000 new cars hit the streets each day, the organizers said action would be taken.

"Besides building more roads and improving the traffic management system, Beijing is also considering implementing provisional regulations to guarantee smooth traffic flow during the Games," said Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice-president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympics (BOCOG).

Despite the frequent sandstorms which have hit Beijing this spring, local officials remain optimistic that the Games will in fact be a "Green Olympics."

"We will try our best to achieve better air quality by 2008 to welcome the athletes and the Olympic family," said Jiang.

The Beijing municipal government has invested heavily to improve the city environment since it won the right to host the Games. It spent 60 billion yuan (US$7.5 billion) on pollution control projects between 2000 and 2005.

According to Verbruggen, IOC officials were impressed with Beijing's efforts to ensure the Games leave a lasting legacy for the city.

"Another extremely good point which I'd like to mention is that perhaps for the first time we felt how the BOCOG has put emphasis on their being legacies left after the Games,," Verbruggen said. "This is not only in terms of venues, but also issues like the environment, sports management and the use of technologies."

The Beijing organizers also announced that in order to brief the world's media on progress, the first World Press Briefing for the 2008 Olympic Games would be held in Beijing from September 25-29. This follows the World Broadcasting meeting which is being held in August.

(China Daily May 19, 2006)