Games 'well worth the money'

Beijing's huge investment in the Olympics will help cement its place as a world-class city and business center, and leave a legacy of improvements for its residents, pundits have said.

Unlike Athens and some other previous hosts, where the Games led to a mountain of debt and many of the venues now sit unused, Beijing and the Chinese government can comfortably afford the $40 billion bill, they said.

Denis Ma, associate director of research at the Beijing office of property consultants Jones Lang LaSalle, said the main thing was that less than a quarter of the total spend was on purpose-built venues such as the Bird's Nest stadium. The bulk was invested in infrastructure.