Is China ready ?

Heavy blizzards in January have left China's transportation system and power networks disrupted leaving a chaos of Chinese travelers stranded, days before the Chinese New Year. Such a disaster hitting the fastest growing country in the world will make you ponder if China is ready for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The disruption in transportation systems is a sign that the country is reaching the “physical growth limits” as the WSJ puts it. Millions of their rural people have migrated to the urban areas like Shanghai and Beijing to experience the phenomenal economics growth in the region. Such a large migration to and for the rural and urban areas make a significant strain on the transportation system which is most train networks.

So looking a how fragile China's infrastructure is, will China be ready for their big event this year – the 2008 Beijing Olympics ? Where the influx of millions of spectators and tourists to the country during that period will certainly post a logistical problem to the country.

The answer is, most probably they would be. Billions has been spent by the Chinese government to develop the infrastructure in Beijing including the a major expansion to the subway station in Beijing. When it is ready, the subway network will have double the number of lines that they currently have. Furthermore, extra thousands of buses and cabs will be made available at that time. These developments show that Beijing would have the infrastructure capability to handle the extra capacity in August, as most of the development have been concentrated here. The current disaster only shows the gross misallocation of resources that have been concentrated in the urban areas of China.