Jointly building the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: the same "road", the same dream - visiting Gao Bo, general manager of China State Construction Group Co., Ltd

China Economic Herald and China Development Network reporter Gong Xin reported that building a highway from the important northern town of Peshawar to Karachi in the south has always been the dream of the Pakistani people.

On December 22, 2015, China State Construction and the National Highway Administration of Pakistan signed an EPC contract for the Pakistan PKM Project (Peshawar-Karachi Expressway) Project (Sukur-Multan Section). On December 16, 2020, the project was officially handed over and opened to traffic, achieving perfect performance. Recently, Gao Bo, general manager of China State Construction Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "China Construction"), said in an interview with The China Economic Herald that the project has greatly improved the traffic situation in Pakistan, helped to open up the main north-south traffic artery in central Pakistan, directly promoted the social and economic development of the areas along the route, and benefited the people of Pakistan.

A road of friendship that connects people's hearts and minds

China Economic Herald: During the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, what specific project progress and landing results have been achieved? What are the effects of the completion and commissioning of the project in improving local people's livelihood and promoting economic and social development? Can you give an example?

Gao Bo: Chinese construction entered the Pakistani market in 1984, and has undertaken infrastructure and people's livelihood projects such as Islamabad Jinna Stadium, Karachi Sewage Treatment Plant, Islamic Shaman Hotel, Lahore Software Science and Technology Park, Islamabad New International Airport Terminal, etc., which have improved the quality of local cities, driven local economic development, and received attention and support from the Chinese and Pakistani governments and social people, so that China's construction has been widely recognized by local owners and all parties in society. It has also established a good reputation and reputation for Chinese architecture in Pakistan.

Thanks to the ten years of deep cultivation and operation of China Construction in the Pakistani market, in December 2015, we successfully signed a contract for the PKM Expressway (Peshawar-Karachi Expressway) project (Sukur-Multan Section) (referred to as the PKM project) in Pakistan. The highway is the largest transport infrastructure project in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, from Sukkur in Sindh Province in the south to Multan, the economic center of Punjab province, with a total length of 392 kilometers and a design speed of 120 kilometers per hour, making it Pakistan's first two-way 6-lane highway with intelligent transportation functions.

The first is to open up the road to people's livelihood to help development. Multan and Sukkur, which are connected by the PKM project, are important cities in Pakistan, Multan is the main cash crop producing area such as mango and date palm, and Sukur is an important transportation hub. After the completion of the project, the opening time of the two places was compressed from 11 hours to less than 4 hours, which effectively enhanced the economic activity along the route and accelerated the social and economic development of Pakistan. In the process of project construction, China State Construction has always adhered to the concept of localization operation, giving priority to local partners, giving priority to the procurement of local equipment, materials and services, and driving the development of the local construction industry to the greatest extent. Among them, the project has 4457 sets of equipment, with a local procurement rate of 60%; the steel, cement, earthworks, gravel, diesel and other building materials needed for project construction are directly purchased locally; the project also cooperates with the local area to develop soil fields and quarries, which directly drives the development of peripheral industries such as stone mining, building materials and equipment leasing along the route, benefiting more than 1,000 local enterprises.

The second is to build a scientific and technological road for a century-old project. The PKM project is pakistan's highest-grade highway with the highest design grade, the only full-line greenery, and a once-in-a-century flood control grade. Relying on the QA and QC systems, the project has established a multi-level and all-round quality control network including design and construction, and built a state-of-the-art intelligent highway in Pakistan with innovation and ingenuity. In order to adapt to the local high temperature and heavy duty environment, the project adopts the new standard of anti-rutting technology in the high temperature environment of 80 degrees Celsius of pavement asphalt mixture, and maturely applies SBS modified asphalt technology to ensure the quality of pavement molding. During the construction process, the project team used UAV aerial measurement technology to accurately obtain the data of the whole highway line, and applied bending and sinking detection technology to control the quality of the subgrade pavement, which was the first case in Pakistan; in addition, the design scheme of the cross-river bridge was optimized through hydrophysical model; and the problem of small-angle oblique bridge erection was successfully overcome. The project team also improved the standard of Pakistan's intelligent transportation system, the whole line of toll system, signal management and other functions are electronic, automated, along the entire line of the installation of optical cables can be the whole road section monitoring video and other information transmitted to the control center in real time, in order to fully grasp the traffic situation, to ensure traffic safety.

The third is to shape the road of friendship that connects people's hearts and minds. During the construction period of the PKM project, we actively fulfilled our social responsibilities, insisted on giving priority to the employment of local personnel, employing more than 28,900 managers, equipment operators and local workers, creating a large number of jobs for Pakistan. In order to help local skilled workers with excellent professional ability, the project specially invited Karachi vocational training institutions to provide standardized training for local employees. At the same time, adhering to the concept of "one road, one home", the project organizes networking activities between Employees and their families of China and Pakistan during the traditional festivals of the two countries, narrows the distance between hearts and hearts through exchanging gifts, experiencing China-Pakistan customs, carrying out sports competitions and other ways, jointly builds a "big family" of China-Pakistan employees, and promotes people-to-people communication with road connectivity. We actively practice the "concept of sustainable development", help improve the well-being of people along the project, repair schools for surrounding villages, build 800 kilometers of convenient roads, 15 bridges, 50 wells, and more than 200 water channels; build 920 corridors and culverts with a total length of more than 40,000 meters, protect the local ecology and ensure animal migration; organize medical teams to provide free medical services for more than 1,000 people in rural areas. We are also active in the front line of local rescue and disaster relief, and actively participate in various accident scene rescues.

Carrying hope in the fight against the epidemic

China Economic Herald: Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic last year, what efforts has your company made in the smooth implementation of specific epidemic prevention and protection projects?

Gao Bo: Last year, the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the PKM project is in the trial operation stage, as the main traffic artery in central Pakistan, every vehicle of daily necessities and epidemic prevention materials on the PKM Expressway is pinned on the hopes of hundreds of Thousands of Pakistani families. In order to effectively respond to the epidemic, the project clarified the responsibility for prevention and control in accordance with the local epidemic prevention requirements, strictly did a good job in daily disinfection and protection, unremittingly grasped prevention and control measures, blocked the way of virus transmission, built a solid prevention and control safety barrier, and resolutely did a good job in normalizing epidemic prevention and control. In the face of the epidemic raging, the project team overcame the shortage of personnel, logistical support and other difficulties, stayed at the scene around the clock, ensured the smooth operation of the work during the operation of the project, and ensured that no employee of the project was infected and the traffic was interrupted for a day in the epidemic, which withstood the test of the epidemic, so that PKM not only became a traffic artery in the true sense, but also became a "life rescue artery" in the epidemic.

While doing a good job in its own epidemic prevention and control and operation work, China State Construction attaches great importance to the safety and health of its local employees, provides them with living and epidemic prevention materials, and shares personal protection experience with employees' families. On the eve of Eid al-Fitr, we specially visited the families of Pakistani employees in difficulty, brought all kinds of support and help, sent care and warmth, and made the concept of "big family" of Chinese and Pakistani employees more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

High-quality co-construction of China-Pakistan dream

China Economic Herald: At present, due to the superposition of factors such as the epidemic, the international external environment has undergone great changes, and the international situation facing Chinese enterprises going global is becoming more and more complicated, how do you think that as Chinese enterprises, how should they respond to the unpredictable changes in the external environment that the "Belt and Road" including the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor may face in the future?

Gao Bo: In the face of a complex external environment, China Architecture will unswervingly implement the new development concept, maintain strategic determination, grasp the law of development, accurately identify changes, respond scientifically, take the initiative to seek changes, and actively participate in the high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road" with a more open mind and international vision. The first is to unswervingly promote high-quality development. High quality is an inevitable requirement for drawing the "Belt and Road" and "Gong Pen Painting". It is necessary to actively participate in major projects that benefit people's livelihood and drive local economic development through active services and accurate docking of the development plans of countries along the route, enhance the value creativity of enterprises, and help countries along the route to achieve green development and sustainable development in the process of participating in the joint construction of the "Belt and Road"; at the same time, it is necessary to coordinate development and safety, establish bottom-line thinking, strengthen risk judgment, comprehensively and scientifically improve risk resilience, and ensure that systemic risks and subversive risks do not occur. The second is to unswervingly promote innovative development. Innovative development is the first driving force for the "Belt and Road" to go steady and far-reaching. It is necessary to adhere to the new development concept to plan the future, actively promote the integration of investment, construction, investment and financing business, focus on the upgrading of overseas business models, comprehensively improve the efficiency of enterprise resource allocation and value creation capabilities, and provide higher levels of services and products for the host country; at the same time, it is necessary to accelerate the coordinated development of intelligent construction and building industrialization, integrate technological innovation and management innovation into overseas business, increase the promotion and application of advanced technologies such as smart construction sites and smart cities, empower sustainable development with innovation, and upgrade local industries. Social and economic construction provides greater assistance. The third is to unswervingly achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. Mutual benefit and win-win results are the fundamental guidelines for the "Belt and Road" to go deep and solid. It is necessary to actively expand cooperation with local and third-country enterprises, jointly build industrial chains, supply chains, service chains, and value chains, fully realize complementary advantages, help the host country's economic cycle, and realize mutual benefit in cooperation and win-win results in development; at the same time, we will, as always, unite with the host country to cope with various challenges, take the initiative to practice social responsibility, adhere to localization management, give priority to local partners, give priority to purchasing local products and services, give priority to hiring local personnel, and continue to participate in social welfare activities. Integrate into community development and construction, promote local economic recovery, and benefit more social groups through project implementation, so that more people have more happiness and sense of gain in the development of enterprises.

China Economic Herald: What are the plans and expectations for the promotion of specific projects in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the layout of overseas related businesses in the future?

Gao Bo: China State Construction is one of the earliest "going out" enterprises in China, with a total of more than 7,000 projects in more than 130 countries and regions, and its business layout covers investment and development, engineering construction, survey and design, new business (green construction, energy conservation and environmental protection, e-commerce) and other sectors, with nearly 10,000 management and engineering and technical personnel overseas.

Since 2013, China State Construction has actively participated in the construction of the "Belt and Road", giving full play to the advantages of the "China Architecture" brand and the advantages of the whole industry chain, adhering to local integration, serving the local area, and helping local economic and social development. In the process of international operation, China State Construction actively practices the concept of "consultation, co-construction and sharing", always adheres to market-oriented management, actively fulfills social responsibilities, and pursues sustainable development in the local area. China State Construction actively promotes localization operations, giving priority to the procurement of products and services from the host country, giving priority to hiring local managers, technicians and workers, and driving the development of local industries. At present, the average localization procurement rate of China's construction has reached 80%, which is close to 100% in some countries; the proportion of localization employees has reached an average of 75%, and in a few countries, it has exceeded 95%.

China State Construction will continue to give full play to its brand advantages and the advantages of the whole industry chain, unswervingly promote international operations, promote the high-quality development of overseas business, do a good job in the three "commitments", and contribute more to the high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road". The first is to commit to promoting the implementation of major projects of the "Belt and Road". The company will further integrate high-quality resources, focus on promoting, building and operating major projects that meet the needs of local economic development and benefit local society and people's livelihood, and strive to create more "Belt and Road" visualization results. The second is to promote the transformation and upgrading of overseas business. The company will continue to give full play to the advantages of the whole business field and the whole industry chain, and take the integration of investment and construction as an important means to strengthen the shortcomings of the industry, expand the market space, enhance the competitive advantage and brand influence, drive the diversified development of the business, and provide better solutions and product services for the urbanization and industrialization construction and development of the host country. The third is to strive to expand win-win cooperation among stakeholders. Further expand the scope and scope of cooperation, seek cooperation breakthroughs between the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain and across industries, and build a consortium of risk sharing and benefit sharing. In particular, it is necessary to take major projects as an opportunity to achieve a more efficient allocation of resources such as capital and technology with enterprises in developed countries in the third-party market, and carry out international cooperation at a deeper level, at a higher level and in more fields, so as to bring real development assistance to the host country and achieve win-win cooperation among stakeholders.