But Lu said Beijing has foreseen that possibility and made systematic arrangements and worked out measures to guarantee the capital's sustainable, rapid and sound economic growth in the near term. He pointed out that Beijing has maintained fast and steady growth in the past few years, largely because "the city is entering a high-growth phase," although the Olympic factor gave it an important push. Beijing will continue to introduce a large number of projects to implement its 11th Five-Year Plan from 2006 to 2010, involving transport facilities, energy and resources, water supply, eco-environment protection, education and cultural services.

From within

Beijing is a developing city, drawing impetus from within itself, from its infrastructure upgrading demands and industrial structure. It is undergoing the process of urbanization, internationalization and modernization, with its per-capita GDP rising to $10,000 or even higher from the current $7,000, Lu said.

"The experiences of other countries tell us that cities in this phase will always see an upward trend and abundant vitality in their economies," Lu said.

The Beijing Olympic Games have encouraged more citizens to take an interest in the sports and recreation industry, Chen said. He believes related industries, including tourism, sports, recreation, telecommunications and financial service sectors, will continue to develop and prop up the city's economic growth.

China has more than 20,000 businesses in fitness and recreation services, athletic competition or performance and sports technique training. The sports industry has already absorbed 200 billion yuan ($29.4 billion) in total investments, with annual turnover exceeding 60 billion yuan ($8.8 billion), Chen said. The sports and recreation industry in Beijing would maintain double-digit growth after the Olympic and Paralympic flames have been extinguished, Chen added.

Chen is also optimistic about the real estate industry over the next few years.

"The capital's real estate industry has developed along a healthy route with limited bubbles in the past seven years of Olympic preparations, although from 2005 to 2007, housing prices skyrocketed in the city," Chen said. He also said there would be slight and brief downward adjustments after the sports events, but the market would remain promising.

Beijing also will continue to invest heavily in transport facilities and finish construction of another 350 km of urban rail track by 2015, said Chen.

The conference and exhibition industry has been the largest winner during all Olympic Games, Chen said. Beijing built 400,000 square meters of conference and exhibition venues for the Olympics. These facilities will see surging demand due to the elevation of the city's image during the events.

According to Yang Kaizhong, Director of the Center of China Regional Economy Research at Peking University, investment in Beijing will keep growing at a high speed, as it will speed up the construction of satellite towns to facilitate its endeavor to form a city structure composed of a central city and satellite towns and townships. It will also expedite the construction of light rail transportation facilities to connect the city proper with the newly built satellite towns. In addition, it will develop the service industry in high-end industrial areas and new towns while focusing on hi-tech, financial and cultural industries. All these plans will ensure the high-speed growth of post-Olympic investments in the capital city.

Furthermore, Beijing is replacing its heavy industry with value-added automotive manufacturing, electronic and telecommunication industries.

Sports finance

A synergy between sports and financial service industries is an emerging trend in Beijing's economic development, Chen said. Sports franchises and businesses in many countries securitize their cash-flow assets to finance sustainable operations. Many U.S. sports venues and major British football clubs, for example, finance their operations by turning their basic assets, such as income from membership fees, sales of television rebroadcast rights, naming rights sales and advertising, into securities. Beijing has put naming rights for the Bird's Nest up for sale as part of the city's sports asset securitization, Chen concluded.