At $3.1 billion, China’s operating budget is comparable to the average, inflation-adjusted cost of hosting previous Winter Olympics, according to the University of Oxford researchers.
“Judging by the cost of previous Winter Olympics, that should be enough to cover the cost, especially when you consider that many of the facilities have already been built,” said one of the experts, Bent Flyvbjerg, a professor of major program management at Oxford.
But it is hard to assess what portion of the coronavirus prevention costs, if any, is being included in the budget, Mr. Flyvbjerg said. Chinese accounting is often opaque, and there are many budgets in which health spending can be counted, he said.
The government has also pressed businesses to take on more of the cost of hosting the Games. Other host cities of previous Olympics spent heavily to build lodging for athletes and journalists and a media center. China has taken a different approach.
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N.Y.C.’s vaccine mandate. New York City fired about 1,430 workers for failing to comply with its vaccine mandate. The figure represents less than 1 percent of the city’s work force, but it is likely the nation’s largest mass termination of municipal employees in response to such a mandate.
In Zhangjiakou, an area near Beijing where some competitions are being held, the Chinese authorities have temporarily taken over the Malaysian-owned Genting Secret Garden ski resort. The resort expanded its capacity to 3,800 rooms and vacation apartments, up from 380 before China won its Olympic bid. Lim Chee Wah, the founder and a co-owner of the resort, said in an interview that he had not been told how much the government would compensate him for the use of the resort for most of the winter season, but that he trusted it would be fair.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/14/business/economy/olympics-china-economics.html
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