On October 11, it was learned from the Hebei Provincial Winter Olympics Office that positive progress has been made in various preparatory works for the 2022 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics in Hebei Province. At present, the overall layout of the core competition area has been basically established, and all 5 competition venues in the Zhangjiakou zone have started construction.
The province deeply understands the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping that "a good plan is a good baton" and "do a good job in planning according to scientific and advanced concepts", always puts planning at a prominent position, aims to host high-quality events, considers the long-term development of Chongli, hires Tsinghua University as a consulting team, and adopts the method of a chief planner plus top international professional planning institutions to compile the zoning plan and special plans for the Zhangjiakou zone. The overall layout of the core competition area has been basically established.
The Guyangshu venue cluster includes three competition venues: the Nordic Center Ski Jumping Venue, the Nordic Center Cross-Country Skiing Venue, and the Biathlon Center. The planning and design scheme was comprehensively formed by Tsinghua University leading the integration of international solicitation schemes. The functional requirements of the venues and all technical indicators of the tracks are designed in strict accordance with the requirements of international individual sports organizations. Venue A and Venue B of the Genting Snow Park are renovations of existing facilities at the Genting Ski Resort, and the track design was carried out by the Canadian company Ecosign, which has experience in designing venues for multiple Winter Olympics. At present, all 5 competition venues have started construction. The Taizicheng Ice and Snow Town, where the Olympic Village is located, as a calling card of the Chongli ski resort and an important future Olympic legacy, is planned with small-volume buildings and light-touch construction to maintain the natural landscape, reflect the architectural style of northern China's mountainous areas, and comprehensively build an international-standard barrier-free system.
In accordance with the requirements of being unhurried and ensuring quality and quantity, the province has made every effort to promote the construction of Winter Olympics projects and formulated an annual start-up plan for 76 venues and supporting facility projects. Five projects were started last year, 33 of the 38 projects planned for this year have started, and the remaining 5 will start before the end of October as planned. Major transportation infrastructure construction is also progressing in an orderly manner. The Hebei section of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-Speed Railway, the Chongli Railway, and the Hebei section of the Yanchong Expressway are under smooth construction, and the expansion and reconstruction of Zhangjiakou Ningyuan Airport will start in October.
To vigorously develop ice and snow sports and industries, the provincial government signed a framework agreement on cooperative development of ice and snow sports with the General Administration of Sport of China, formulated a winter sports development plan and a gold medal plan for the 2022 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics, and established 13 provincial-level professional winter sports teams. At present, the province has built 28 ski resorts and 32 ice rinks. In the last snow season, 6.5 million person-times participated in ice and snow sports, a year-on-year increase of 46%.
Grasping the major opportunity of preparing for the Winter Olympics, the province has also solidly promoted the construction of the capital's water conservation function area, ecological environment support area, and renewable energy demonstration zone, and actively developed strategic emerging industries such as clean energy and big data. Zhangjiakou City has carried out large-scale afforestation, completing 3.9 million mu since last year.