PyeongChang 2018 Reveals Venue Improvement Plans

PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games committee have announced their plans to improve the venues that will stage the games.

PyeongChang 2018 President Jin Sun Kim said, clinic “in the past year the PyeongChang Organizing Committee has been established, a special act was approved to support preparation works, the ground for the Wonju-PyeongChang-Gangneung high-speed rail link was broken, and the designing of the competition venues has begun”.

A review by the organising committee revealed adjustments had to be made to improve the experience.

He added: “the adjustments are inevitable in order to deliver the athlete-and Games-oriented concept that we had promised in the bid”.

Improvements include changes in location of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, the speed skating and ice hockey II venues, as well as the Olympic Station. The sties for the downhill events, ice hockey I and snowboarding have been confirmed after detailed reviews.

One of the key changes is to the site of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. The new proposed site will be in Hoenggae, two km from Alpensia and where the national team trains regularly. It will be converted into a festive hub during Games time.

Measuring 80,000 sq. m., the hub will feature a temporary 50,000-seat stadium, a medal plaza, an Olympic exhibition hall, traditional food markets and other attractions expected to be popular with athletes and tourists.

Future plans include 13 competition venues, seven of which already exist and six to be newly constructed. A budget of 19.8 billion Korean Won ($17.3 million) has been set aside this year for design works, which have already started. Construction should be completed by October 2016.

Meanwhile construction and upgrading of the transportation infrastructure has started. A budget of 4.7 trillion Korean Won ($4.1 billion) has been a allocated for 14 transportation infrastructure projects, including the upgrading of the rail link between the Incheon International Airport and Gangneung.