Madrid, Jun 10 (EFE).– Beijing and Almaty will force voters “to choose between two very different but equally valid offers,” with both still needing improvement in some areas, International Olympic Committee, or IOC, Executive Board member Juan Antonio Samaranch said.

“They are very different, but both have taken advantage of the 2020 Agenda. We no longer want cities to commit atrocities: the Games have to adapt to long-term city and regional plans, and Beijing and Almaty have done so,” the Spaniard told Efe.

Samaranch said by telephone from Lausanne, Switzerland, that Beijing “needs to better explain the temperature issue” because the IOC Evaluation Commission, which visited the city, expressed concern about the need for artificial snow in some locations.

“I cannot believe that there are so many problems. They need to better explain what is happening. I think the snow issue will be taken into account, but it is not insurmountable,” Samaranch said.

“The other candidacy, Almaty, is quite alpine, is at the foot of the mountain range and the most distant venues are only 30 kilometers away from the center. It is a different concept,” the IOC Executive Board member said.

“Before the vote on July 31, they both need to strengthen those points that IOC members have considered most relevant: temperatures in the case of Beijing, and hotels in the Kazakh city, which still has work to do in this area,” Samaranch said.

The two cities presented their bids on Tuesday to IOC members in Lausanne.

Almaty stressed the abundance of natural snow at its facilities, while Beijing highlighted all the “important points” that had been acknowledged by IOC members. EFE