ABOUT 51.5 billion yuan (6.60 billion) will be spent on nearly 400 projects in Longgang District over the next four years to ensure the 2011 Summer Universiade is a great success, yesterday’s Chinese-language newspapers reported.

The word “Universiade” appeared 41 times in the district government report submitted to the annual session of the Longgang District People’s Congress on Monday. Yu Liangwei, head of the Longgang District Government, was quoted by the Southern Metropolis Daily as saying while delivering the work report: “This district government is for the Universiade.”

“The Universiade has pushed Longgang District to the front of the class in the urban development of Shenzhen,” Yu said. “The Summer Universiade will be a super challenge for Longgang District and the ‘nuclear power’ for the development of various undertakings in the district.”

Yu admitted that Longgang, where the main venue of the 2011 Universiade will be built, still lags behind in infrastructure construction and needs to catch up with other districts in the areas of transportation, public security and urban administration. He vowed to take the necessary steps to meet the challenge.

Yu’s comments were echoed by legislators Monday. They said Shenzhen’s success in its bid to host the Universiade has provided a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity for Longgang, and major transformations could be expected in the district.

Among the key projects that the district government will focus on in the next few years are the construction of Metro Line 3 and the emergency ward of the district’s central hospital; demolition projects related to the construction of the Longgang section of the Xiamen-Shenzhen Railway; the Universiade Center and treatment of polluted rivers, according to a Daily Sunshine report.

In 2007 alone, a total of 710 million yuan will be appropriated for the construction of public facilities, including 15 new bus routes, in the district, according to the report.

(SD News)