Chinese Vice Premier: 2022 Olympic venues must be ready by end of 2019

Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli on Tuesday called for coherent efforts to ensure that the construction of the main Olympic venues for the 2022 Winter Games will be completed by the end of 2019.

Zhang made the remarks at a high-level meeting which was attended by officials from relevant government departments, along with the heads of co-hosts Beijing and neighboring Hebei Province.

He said that preparations for the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games have gone smoothly over the past two years, while still more work lays ahead.

Zhang stressed that the main competition venues and relevant infrastructure projects like the high-speed railway between Beijing and Zhangjiakou must be ready by the end of 2019, and the construction work must be environment-friendly and of a high-quality.

As highlighted in Beijing's bid plans, China pledges to encourage 300 million people to participate in winter sports ahead of the 2022 Games.

Zhang also called for more efforts to expand participation in winter sports across China.