The show must and will go on, say officials

• Source: Global Times
• [15:42 April 01 2010]
• Comments

By Ye Jun and Ni Dandan

The German Pavilion is still under construction. Photo: Duan Wuning

With one last month to go before the Shanghai Expo opens on May 1, pavilion directors express their confidence in meeting the deadline while construction workers say an all-out sprint has started.

“We’ll get everything ready before the trial scheduled for mid April,” Rajesh Kumar, director of the Indian Pavilion, told a delegation of journalists on Tuesday when showing them around a bamboo dome, which will represent his country at the Expo.  The exterior of the building is yet to be finished.

Meanwhile at the Nepal Pavilion, a painter surnamed Mei told the Global Times yesterday that the site is currently on round-the-clock alert. “We’ve been assigned a military pledge, so to speak, to get the work done on time.”

A day earlier, Shanghai’s vice mayor Yang Xiong fought back against previous speculations that around 10 to 20 percent of venue constructions are “doomed to be delayed”.

“As things stand, less than 10 percent of the exhibition pavilions would possibly be left unfinished upon the opening of the Expo.” Yang added that the speculated “10 to 20 percent” was misinterpretation of the comment from Hong Hao, director of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination.

“The figures that Hong Hao talked about in media interviews referred to the average numbers in the past Expos. But I think we’re doing better this time.”

Yang explained that various factors such as mistakes occurred to material shipping may have influenced the construction process.

He also dispelled rumors about the “profit-seeking” Expo with a “record-high budget”.