A visit to ＂Belt and Road＂ ｜ Chinese enterprises help Laos build ＂Southeast Asian battery＂, and ＂China plan＂ is unanimously recognized.
Reference News Network reported on September 28 (Text/Zhang Jianhua)China and Laos share the same ideals and beliefs, have similar development paths and are related to their future and destiny. They are a community of destiny with strategic significance. At present, China and Laos cooperate closely to further develop the comprehensive strategic partnership of mutual trust, mutual assistance and mutual benefit. Driven by the "Belt and Road Initiative", extensive cooperation between China and Laos has brought a new atmosphere to Laos, and the cascade hydropower project in southern Europe is one of them.
The "China Program" was unanimously recognized.
The South European River is the largest tributary of Mekong River in Laos, and it is one of the hydropower resources bases that the Lao government is trying to promote. China Electric Power Construction Group (hereinafter referred to as "China Power Construction") invested and developed an overseas basin-wide hydropower project in the whole industrial chain — — Cascade hydropower project of southern Europe River in Laos.
In the process of construction, China Electric Power Construction Co., Ltd. gave full play to its professional expertise in understanding water and electricity, made scientific planning according to local conditions, and creatively put forward the "China Plan" for the development of "one reservoir and seven levels" of the Southern European River project in two phases. With its scientific and reasonable design concept, optimal utilization of hydropower resources, minimum social and environmental impact, minimum relocation of indigenous people, minimum loss of cultivated land and forest land inundation and maximum comprehensive benefit realization, the scheme has won unanimous recognition from the Lao government and local social circles. This is the first time that a China enterprise has obtained a hydropower project developed by the whole basin overall planning and BOT investment overseas, and it is also an important project for docking and supporting Laos to become a "Southeast Asian battery" and improving people’s livelihood in northern Laos.
The total investment of this major project along the "Belt and Road" is about 2.733 billion US dollars. Among them, the first phase of the project developed three power stations of Grade II, V and VI, which were first powered in November 2015 and put into commercial operation in January 2017. As of August 2018, the first phase of the project has been put into operation and has delivered more than 3 billion kWh of high-quality electric energy to the northern part of Laos; The second phase of the project develops four power stations of Grade I, III, IV and VII, which are now in full swing: the main body of the project started construction in April 2016, and the river will be cut off by the end of 2017. It is expected to be completed in 2020, which will guarantee 12% power supply in Laos.
Huang Yande, assistant general manager of China Power Construction Overseas Investment Company and general manager of Laos Company, told this reporter: "With the development of power demand in Laos and surrounding areas, we will increase the improvement of power structure and power grid infrastructure in Laos, and take advantage of ‘ Belt and Road ’ The great opportunity of the initiative will help Laos realize the transformation of land lock country into land link country and build ‘ Southeast Asian battery ’ National development strategy. "
"This is a job that everyone envies."
Eric, 30, is now a "foreign model worker" of China Power Construction Haitou Company. He was originally a waiter in a hotel in Luang Prabang, Laos. His income was meager and his family was poor. However, with the advantage of being proficient in the languages of Laos, China and Britain, he came to work in the second-class power station in Southern Europe. He and his family have undergone earth-shaking changes, changing houses, buying a car, and welcoming a second child.
"This is a job that everyone envies," Eric told reporters. "There are still many Lao employees like me, accounting for about 43% of the company in the valley. We are good at business management, financial management, government coordination, immigration outreach, translation, drivers and other positions."
Eric’s home is in Huck village near the secondary power station. Three years ago, he and the villagers in the reservoir area moved into a spacious and bright immigrant village from the original low and simple shed in the village.
Eric told reporters that the company has built schools, clinics, village offices and markets for immigrants’ new villages, and specially built temples and incinerators to meet the religious activities of immigrants. In order to make immigrants rich, the livelihood restoration project was started, and a 12-kilometer tractor-ploughed road was built. In cooperation with coffee companies, villagers were taught to grow coffee scientifically, and food rations were given to immigrants to help them successfully tide over the transition period.
Eric said: "I feel the deepest. I worked as a hotel waiter and a part-time primary school teacher before I went to China Power Construction Project, and I earned very little money. Now, I earn a lot of money in China Power Construction Southern Europe River Project, and the office and living conditions provided by the company are also very good. The company also attaches great importance to the training of local employees and can work and stay with Chinese employees. As a local, I have gained a lot of benefits. "
What moved Eric even more was that last year, the company selected the first batch of six Lao students from several immigrant villages where the hydropower station was located, and sponsored them to go to Wuhan University in China for further study. "I hope that they will return to China as soon as possible and add new colors to the friendship between China and Laos." Eric said.
A new village built by China people
The Kaisong family who opened a car repair shop in Huck Immigrant New Village are all Vientiane, the capital of Laos. His wife, Aqiao, used to be a nanny in Vientiane. When she visited her relatives in Huck Village, she met Kaisong, who was a welder at the second hydropower station in southern Europe.
Before going to China Power Construction Haitou Company, Kai Song worked in an auto repair shop in Vientiane, and his meager monthly income was only enough to buy two bottles of Lao beer by the end of the month. Since he became an electric welder in southern Europe, he has earned a surplus every month. After saving some money, he bought land and built a house in Huck Village.
The livelihood development of Huck immigrant new village is mainly planned by the mode of "basic industry support+industrial cooperation". Based on the dominant planting or breeding projects in immigrant villages, we will provide immigrants with seeds, fertilizers, seedlings and production tools to stabilize their basic industries and help them to carry out diversified production projects.
Kaisong said that Huck village has gathered villagers from several villages near the dam site of the original power station, with a population of more than 700. The new houses for immigrants, bright schools, hospitals, temples, wide asphalt roads and river-crossing bridges are all built by China people.
Then he pointed to the famous "rice field built by electricity" in the distance and said, "China people kept the original arable land to the greatest extent when they built the power station, and their livelihood has recovered well in the past two years. You see how gratifying the new rice just planted in the field is. And this hillside is full of green cornfields. The Chinese have come and brought advanced planting techniques. "
People who share the same aspirations do not take mountains and seas as far away. Ben Peng, deputy general manager of Southern Europe River Basin Power Generation Co., Ltd., worked in Laos State Power Company for a long time. He said that the national development strategy of building Laos into a "battery in Southeast Asia" coincides with the "Belt and Road Initiative". The construction of cascade hydropower stations in southern Europe is ‘ Belt and Road ’ The fruitful results of the initiative. ‘ Belt and Road ’ Construction is a great undertaking. As a witness and participant, I want to fight with my colleagues in China! "