On January 24, employees of the 23rd Bureau of China Railway worked at the construction site of a modern railway project in Georgia near the central Georgian city of Hasuri. Xinhua News Agency (Courtesy of China Railway 23rd Bureau)
Hashuri, Georgia, February 15 (Xinhua) -- Communications: Gan made the screws of the construction of the "Belt and Road" project - remembering the Chinese railway builders who stuck to their posts in Georgia during the Spring Festival
Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Ming
On the 15th, on the occasion of the traditional Chinese Lantern Festival, the reporter drove more than two hours from Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, to the central city of Hashuli to visit the construction site of the Georgian modern railway project undertaken by Chinese enterprises and witness the busy Lantern Festival spent by Chinese overseas builders in a foreign country.
The 43.9-kilometer railway project, which was built by the 23rd Bureau Group of China Railways, began construction at the end of 2011 and is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year, making it one of the most important infrastructure construction projects in Georgia in recent years. Located in the branch of the Caucasus Mountains, Hasuri is home to the key project Tunnel No. 9, which is the most difficult "throat" project.
Employees of the 23rd Bureau of China Railway work at the construction site of a modern railway project in Georgia near the central Georgian city of Hashuri on February 15. Xinhua News Agency (Courtesy of China Railway 23rd Bureau)
The reporter saw that dozens of Chinese workers were braving the cold to carry out steel bar lashing work in the tunnel exit beam yard, and the rumbling machine roar, the crisp metal material collision sound and the whistling wind were mixed together.
Xun Yanguo, secretary of the party committee of the overseas (Georgia) headquarters of the 23rd Bureau and the Third Company of China Railway, who was at the scene, told reporters that in order to ensure the smooth completion of the project this year, the on-site construction during the Spring Festival is still in full swing. Tunnel 9 girder field completed the pouring of the main T beam and steel bar lashing work, and hundreds of meters of crack repair, tunnel cleaning and water seepage treatment work were completed inside the tunnel.
Xun Yanguo said that during the Spring Festival, under the premise of ensuring safety and epidemic prevention, more than 100 Chinese management and construction personnel gave up the opportunity to return to China to reunite with their families, braved the epidemic and severe cold, and insisted on fighting on the front-line construction site.
Project manager Wang Qian told reporters that in order to ensure the construction period, employees Zhang Jie and Wang Ya postponed the plan to return to China to get married, staying on the project for 3 years; engineer Zeng Chenfeng was busy with project construction, and the old father's domestic death failed to see the last face; Yue Xiaoshun of the Legal Department insisted on 8 consecutive Spring Festivals in Ge, and failed to celebrate the New Year with his family for many years... There are many more deeds like this.
"We all have a belief that we hope to use our hands to promote the joint construction of the 'Belt and Road' project in Georgia and contribute to the local economic development." Wang Qian said.
On the eve of the Spring Festival, Davit Pöhtazer, president of Georgian Railway Co., Ltd., came to the construction site to comfort the employees involved in the construction, and expressed his admiration and gratitude for the professionalism of chinese enterprises in effectively organizing production and paying close attention to the progress of the project under the premise of fully protecting the health and safety of the construction personnel.
"Every festive season, I think of my relatives. What I miss in my heart is the relatives of the motherland, but what I can't let go of is the mission I adhere to. I hope that we can become the screws of jointly building the 'Belt and Road' project, contribute our own strength, and no matter how tired we are, we will have no regrets." Xun Yanguo said.