Beijing spends big as it prepares for a costly 2022 Winter Olympics

With the Pyeongchang Games in South Korea having wrapped up on Sunday, the focus turns to Beijing as China spends big to host its first Winter Olympics in 2022

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Secretary general of the Beijing organising committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Han Zirong, waves the Olympic flag during a handover ceremony. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:00am, 28 Feb 2018Updated: 8:00am, 28 Feb 2018

Villages are being razed in northern China. Mountains are being cut to size. And new stadiums, high-speed train lines, expressways and three separate Olympic villages are coming to life.

With the Pyeongchang Games in South Korea having wrapped up on Sunday, the focus turns to Beijing as China spends big to host its first Winter Olympics in 2022.

Still four years out, the tab for the Games has ticked upwards, with outlays appearing to eclipse the budget in Beijing’s winning bid by at least half a billion dollars, according to a review of government requests for the massive project.

Beijing won the Games for its willingness to spend. For the 2008 Summer Olympics the nation poured in an estimated $40 billion.

Children wave Chinese and Olympic flags during a ceremony marking the start of the tour of the Olympic flag leading up to the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Photo: Reuters

That event amounted to a stunning coming out party for the rising giant – but afterwards many of the venues sat empty.

Beijing has pledged this time will be different, with officials drumming up sustainable development and post-Olympics plans for the heap of new facilities.