Angola’s 27-year civil war has been over for more than a decade and its government is devoting itself to reconstruction, especially housing, with the help of Chinese large companies.

    In 2007, a housing construction contract worth more than $700 million, was signed between China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group Co Ltd, CTCE for short, and the Angola post-war reconstruction committee in Luanda, the country’s capital.

    According to the contract, CTCE would help the country build infrastructure and nearly 10,000 housing units covering a combined 1.41 million square meters. The contractor is also responsible for designs and material procurement.

    “The project marked the full trust and confidence from Angola’s authorities and the people because it is significant in advancing the country’s economic development and improving local people’s livelihoods,” said CTCE General Manager Xu Baocheng at the signing ceremony.

    Xu noted CTCE is a large State-controlled construction enterprise with a history of over 60 years and an annual turnover of more than $10 billion. It is also a “model subsidiary” and pilot company owned by China Railway Engineering Corp, a Fortune Global 500 company.

    The company has been awarded a number of first-class qualification certificates in businesses ranging from railway and highway engineering to municipal construction, airports, housing, mechanical installation, environmental protection projects and water conservancy.

    It is also engaged in producing new construction materials, operation of railway services, rental of large construction machinery, exports, real estate development and national infrastructure investment.

    The company has made huge contributions to the country’s infrastructure — particularly in railway construction — by contracting many projects that have attracted worldwide attention. They include the Qinghai-Tibet Railway — the world’s highest — the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed Railway and Hangzhou Bay Bridge, the world’s third longest trans-oceanic span. It has now built more than 10,000 kilometers of rail lines and associated infrastructure.

    A high-tech company recognized by the central government, CTCE has a State-level enterprise technology center and a postdoctoral workstation.

    The company has also assembled a team of talented people. Among its 21,000 employees, more than 12,000 have distinguished master-level expertise, while 55 have been awarded special government allowances and 40 are professor-level engineers.

Since its establishment, the company has received over 80 awards for outstanding engineering, 30 of them the highest national prizes in their fields. The company has also had an A-class credit rating in railway construction for 13 consecutive years, the longest among its 80 peers in China.

    The company treated Angola’s housing project as a priority so it met high expectations, said Xu, the general manager.

    The designs were crucial, he noted.

     Zhang Hechuan (center), board chairman and Party secretary of CTCE, examines the housing design for Angola. 

 
    Xu Baocheng (center), general manage of CTCE, inspects the construction site.

    CTCE invited Chinese experts in architecture and organized elite professionals in the company’s housing design, construction, security and quality management departments to conduct a meticulous investigation in Angola before the design stage began.

    The company then organized talented Chinese designers to draft plans that met the requirements of Angola residents, were adapted to the climate and economized on resources.

    The design was finally confirmed by the Angolan government after six months of discussion and improvement.

    Xu said the company then hired a group of skilled technicians and supervisors for duty in Angola.

    After intense preparations, the cornerstone ceremony for the real estate project was held on Aug 3, 2008 in Luanda.

    To accelerate construction and maintain high quality, CTCE set up seven production units that would each shoulder different tasks according to their abilities. A management team was formed to coordinate the units at the building site in Angola.

    A hospital, design office, materials factory and logistical departments were also set up for technicians and workers.

   The company established modern brick manufacturing yards and sand rock facilities at the building site to facilitate the construction.

    Most of the materials needed were imported from China due to local economic bottlenecks. The company established a logistics base in Tianjin, a major deepwater port in North China, to ensure the supply and avoid delays.

    CTCE is responsible for the material procurement. Its purchasing staff was active in more than 30 of China’s provinces or cities to investigate thousands of suppliers and their products, aiming to provide goods of high quality for the project.

    They selected more than 2,000 suppliers with strong production capacity and high market reputations. The resulting products include ceramic tiles, aluminum alloy sections, lighting, toilets, cement, steel pipes, fasteners and bamboo plywood.

By the end of November this year, the company had purchased 1.51 million tons of building materials and shipped it to Angola.

    During the project, the company’s senior officials, including Board Chairman Zhang Hechuan and General Manager Xu Baocheng, flew to Angola for many times to check progress and provide suggestions.

    While working on the housing project, CTCE did not forget its corporate social responsibilities in Angola.

    The company hired Angolans to promote localization and ease unemployment.

After receiving training courses by the company, locals worked in erecting framework, installing reinforced steel bars and painting.

    CTCE also formulated measures to manage Angolan employees, and promoted dozens of local workers to be managers. It also helped each manager draw up a work plan.

Those who had outstanding performance were offered educational opportunity at local universities through financial support from the company.

    Angola President José Eduardo dos Santos visited the construction site many times and expressed his satisfaction with both the building quality and the progress.

Last year a CTCE delegation led by Xu Baocheng was cordially received by the president at the palace in Luanda.

    During the meeting, Xu was told that Angola wants to continue sustainable contact and deepen its relationship with the company. He also appeared in an exclusive interview on Angolan national television.

    The Angola housing project was completed in October after nearly four years of hard work. Its 9,808 apartments all passed quality examination.

    “We are proud of turning a wasteland into a brand-new community and helping thousands of Angola people solve their housing problem,” Xu said. “CTCE has shown the passion and intelligence of the Chinese people.”

     The housing project was completed in October with all apartments passing quality examinations. 

    Angolan workers on the 9,808-unit housing project in Luanda enjoy some recreation in their spare time.

    Mutual benefits

    China can trace its reform and opening-up policy back to the 1970s, and now it has established bilateral trade with many countries, especially in the developing world.

    Africa is home to the largest number of developing countries, so promoting economic development and social progress are common tasks China and Africa face.

According to the Information Office at China’s State Council, China-Africa economic and trade cooperation in the 1950s centered on bilateral trade and China’s aid to Africa. Through joint efforts, cooperation is developing in ever-expanding fields and with increasingly rich content.

    During years of development, China and Africa gave full play to the complementary advantages in each other’s resources and economic structures, abiding by the principles of equality, effectiveness, mutual benefit and reciprocity, and mutual development, and now continue to enhance economic and trade cooperation to achieve mutual benefits and progress.

    Practice proves that China-Africa economic and trade cooperation serves the common interests of the two sides, helps Africa to reach the UN Millennium Development Goals, and boosts common prosperity and progress for China and Africa.

    CTCE overseas

   With the backdrop of integration between China and the world in trade, CTCE has accumulated the experience and profound understanding for China’s “going out” policy after contracting many overseas projects.

    In recent years, CTCE has been a keen player in the international market and has witnessed tremendous growth in overseas operations, according to Board Chairman Zhang Hechuan.

    In the Tanzania-Zambia railway project constructed between 1970 and 1975, CTCE was one of the contractors and made enormous contributions. The TAZARA project was financed through an interest-free loan of some $500 million from China.

    The railway served as an important alternative transport exit for copper-rich Zambia, which was then blocked by neighboring white regimes for its support to the liberation struggle of other African countries.

    The 1,860-km railway, which took more than 50,000 technicians and workers to complete over seven years, was one of China’s largest foreign aid projects and is considered an emblem of China-Africa friendship.

    The project also marked the beginning of friendship between CTCE and African peoples.

    The company then began long-term cooperation with another African country — Djibouti — in early 1980s.

    It successively constructed more than 80 high-quality projects for the country in 10 years, which played an important role in boosting local economic development and improving people’s livelihoods.

    Since the turn of the 21st century, the company has put even more focus on the overseas strategies as it responds to trends in international markets.

    It has set up an international trade department headquarters and a number of subsidiaries engaged in overseas operations in many countries including Venezuela, Angola and Oman. The foreign branches have provided powerful business support and strong impetus to the company’s growth in overseas business affairs.

    In 2001, the company contracted a road project in Mongolia that took more than three years to finish. As part of the Mongolia-China highway, the 200-kilometer stretch was highly commended by Mongolia President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj. In August 2002, the company started to build a new railway in Venezuela and repaired the country’s existing railways two years later.

   The company also signed a series of contracts adding new buildings at Chinese embassies in Nepal, Switzerland and Madagascar.

    In 2008, the company began construction on a 22-floor commercial building in Nepal.

    A year later, CTCE’s parent company contracted a railway project in Venezuela that was the largest investment by the government in a non-oil area. CTCE undertook a $3-billion task.

    In 2010, the company built irrigation works, housing and road projects in Ecuador, Angola, Ethiopia and Kenya.

    To date, CTCE has carried out or is undertaking more than 100 projects in 20 countries and regions including Ethiopia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Switzerland, Ecuador and Nepal. The projects cover railways, highways, housing and water-related works.

    During its six decades of development, the company has formed a framework of overseas operations, mainly in African, South American and Asian countries. By the end of November, the company has 16 projects underway in seven countries, with a total contract value of $4.7 billion.