With an Asian Games Village at hand, Beijing will build an International Exhibition and Sports Center (WESC) which is seeking for planning and designs from home and abroad.

The WESC, whose main premises covers 405 hectares, featuring nine stadiums, China International Exhibition Center and Beijing World Trade Center.

Wang Guangtao, vice mayor of the Beijing Municipal Government, said Friday that the WESC is aimed to "provide the optimum conditions for organizing games, strengthen its multiple functions and speed up the pace towards a modern metropolitan". "It should be a state-of-the-art center. To ensure the best design the municipal government has decided to invite tenders from across the world," said Wang.

Bidders are required to provide models, designs and their illustrations and to inform in written form the "design-collecting committee" (http://www.bjsgwb.gov.cn) before April 4. The deadline for design bidding is July 11.

Beijing, one of the 10 cities bidding for the 2008 Olympic games, has successfully staged the 11th Asian Games in 1990.