Construction of the "Belt and Road" highlights of the project

On December 23, 2020, a ceremony was held in Xi 'an to celebrate the smooth opening of Turkey's first cargo train for exports to China. The train, loaded with 42 containers, set off from Istanbul on December 4, passing through Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and other countries, entering through Khorgos port, covering a total distance of 8,693 kilometers. The total value of the loaded goods exceeds 10 million yuan, and all customs clearance has been completed. Photo by Li Yibo/Xinhua News Agency

【 Global Epidemic response is underway 】

Connecting the Eurasian continent, Turkey is the gateway to Europe on the ancient Silk Road and an important node country in the construction of the Belt and Road. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, China and Turkey have worked together to fight the epidemic, and Chinese enterprises in Turkey have ensured safety and production. The perseverance of these strikers has enabled many major Belt and Road projects to move forward against the trend.

A world record achieved in the fight against COVID-19

On July 14, 2020, CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhuzhou Machinery Company") held a offline ceremony for the first subway at the new airport of Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, achieving the world record for the delivery of new subway vehicles in 6 months, which is also the first time for China to export fully automatic driverless high-axle load vehicles with a speed of 120 km/h to overseas.

Under the epidemic, in order to ensure the smooth progress of the project, Li Yangyang, general manager of CRRC MNG joint venture Company, organized the backbone team members to go to Turkey at the first time after the resumption of the China-Turkey route to plan the localized manufacturing of the project and the preparation of domestic delivery vehicles to pick up and launch. In order to ensure the safety of project personnel, the company has taken strict epidemic prevention measures, compiled the Turkish version of the "Twelve safety epidemic prevention bans", and established temporary isolation points in the plant.

Qin Bo, manager of corporate management Department in Turkey, said that there are differences between domestic epidemic control requirements and the perceptions of Turkish employees and other realities. To this end, they have taken several measures. The first is to actively share China's successful experience in epidemic prevention among Turkish employees, distribute the Chinese official epidemic prevention guidelines in Turkish, so that employees can realize that "strengthening self-protection is not only to protect themselves, but also to protect their families", create an atmosphere of proactive epidemic prevention, and reduce local employees' resistance to the company's epidemic prevention requirements. Second, by arranging employees to work at home, physical isolation between employees is carried out to minimize contact between employees and reduce the risk of infection. Third, after the assessment of lawyers, it is stipulated that when employees need to enter the company to deal with emergency affairs during the epidemic period, they need to sign a declaration that they and their close relatives are free from COVID-19 infection and suspected symptoms.

Ensure the life, health and safety of every employee

The Bandelmar Boron Carbide project is undertaken by China Machinery and Equipment Engineering Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as "China Machinery Corporation"). Ou Jinchuan, the site safety manager of the project, wrote the Turkish version of the Requirements for Subcontractors to Carry out safety and epidemic prevention Work in Advance, and jointly set up the site prevention and control work group with the Turkish subcontractor, and improved the emergency plan and prevention and control plan for epidemic prevention and control. With the participation of Chinese on-site staff, subcontractors, local government third-party security experts and doctors, an epidemic prevention and control emergency drill was organized, and knowledge of prevention and control was publicized and educated among on-site staff.

Considering that most of the construction personnel are Turkish, it is difficult to concentrate on the management of commuting every day, Ou Jinchuan dared not relax a bit on the epidemic prevention work on the project site. According to the company's epidemic prevention and control requirements, all workers must take their temperature and keep a video record before going to work every day. In order to prevent the workers from misunderstanding, he arrived at the construction site in the early morning, the first to take the temperature and video card, and under his demonstration, the workers were very cooperative with the detection. At first, earthmoving employees did not understand wearing masks and taking their temperatures twice a day during construction. The Chinese staff patiently explained to them the characteristics of the novel coronavirus and the necessity of wearing masks and taking body temperatures, and they actively cooperated without complaining.

There is one thing that Wang Qingjia, general manager of China Machinery Corporation in Turkey, still has a lingering fear in retrospect. During the second round of the new coronavirus outbreak in Turkey, the chef at the project site suddenly fell ill and needed to be sent to the hospital immediately for treatment. However, under the epidemic, local hospitals are full of patients and cannot accept new patients. The company had to send him overnight to an out-of-town hospital for treatment. During the hospital treatment with the patient, on-site interpreter Xia Fei Ya and Party member Tan Tianyu patiently communicated with the medical staff while doing a good job of self-protection, caring for the patient, and the patient eventually recovered and was safely discharged from the hospital.

In addition to the epidemic, there are earthquakes and cold

The city of Van, near the border between Turkey and Iran, is also home to Chinese companies. The 600 MW back-to-back converter station project in Van City, undertaken by China Power Technology and Equipment Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as "Guodian"), fills the gap in DC technology in the Turkish power market. At the same time, the project adopts Chinese design and manufacturing standards, which is a beneficial attempt to "go out" Chinese technology and standards.

Since the resumption of China-Turkey flights in July 2020, Guodian has sent seven batches of "retro-traveling group" to the Van City project, totaling 27 people, which has effectively ensured the continuation of on-site work. In order to reduce mobility and not burden the people of the motherland, the on-site staff overcame difficulties and insisted on staying at their posts, some of them have not gone home for more than a year.

In addition to the epidemic, field staff face a difficult working environment every day. The city of Van is located at the junction of several major tectonic plates and is prone to earthquakes. The overhead lights are often shaking, people are awakened in their sleep, and often all staff run to the open space at the door to escape, which is used to employees. After entering the winter, the project site precipitation is large, the temperature is as low as minus 20 to minus 30 degrees Celsius, the staff braved the cold and snow, overcome the influence of frozen soil period, adhere to the site construction, to ensure the progress of the project.

In view of the poor working conditions, the person in charge of the site to communicate with each employee, psychological comfort and counseling, the company also specially invited domestic psychological counseling experts to conduct online psychological counseling for employees.

Yan Feng, general manager of Guodian Corporation in Turkey, said that the epidemic was caught off guard, and the project under the supervision of the Turkish owners had a large area of shutdown or lag, while the Van City project under the responsibility of the Chinese side was steadily advancing, and the Turkish owners highly recognized and praised the Chinese side's spirit of contract and hard work. "When everyone is facing difficulties, it is the best time for us to concentrate our strength and face up to the difficulties, and it is an opportunity for us to reflect our responsibility, demonstrate courage, and achieve breakthroughs." Doing overseas projects well is not only a personal job, but also an important mission to defend the honor of Chinese enterprises and establish the responsibility of Chinese enterprises. The Van City project, we must build it into a highlight of the "Belt and Road" project, each member of the Van City project team is using practical actions to practice this firm belief."