Old buildings will be difficult places to set up non-barrier facilities as Beijing is preparing for next year's Paralympics, said a Beijing government official on Wednesday.

Beijing has been focusing on key public facilities such as railway stations, hospitals, hotels, supermarkets, in their barrier-free project ahead of the Paralympics, and communities is another important item on their agenda.

"It is a matter concerning social progress (that we build barrier-free facilities for residential communities). Communities are on fast rise in the past dozen years so we should pay much attention to residents' needs," said Cao Yuejin, member of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning.

"New residential areas in recent years would have non-barrier facilities because the government had issued regulations concerning this aspect. But we find that old buildings will be a headache," he said.

Beijing issued the Resolution on Beijing Municipal Barrier-free Facility Construction and Management in 2004 which makes non-barrier facilities compulsory items for all developers.

"For example, we have to think it over how to renovate the entrance of high-rise residential buildings as well as their nearby supporting facilities including post office, banks and shops," he said.

Cao said they had chosen several communities as samples as they were trying to find solutions to building non-barrier facilities old residential areas.

"It is difficult but we are moving forward," he said.

The Paralympics, a games for physically disabled and visually impaired persons, is expected to attract more than 4,000 athletes and 2,500 officials from 162 countries and regions to Beijing.

(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2007)