China-Belarus Trade and Logistics Park: developer and ecological guardian of park

Updated: November 5, 2022 Source: China Merchants Group
fontLarger fontSmaller

The Great Stone Industrial Park, invested and operated by China Merchants Group (CMG), is located in Belarus, an ecological country with 200,000 square kilometers of land, 40 percent of which is covered by forests.

The original landscape of the 1-square-kilometer CMG's China-Belarus Trade and Logistics Park is a woodland formed by straight pine trees, white birches and mixed coniferous and broad trees. Cutting down all the trees and clearing the land seems to be the most natural choice. However, in the face of the upcoming tree cutting and surface cleaning, the staff of the construction team were in dilemma.

They know that to create a construction site in the forest land of Belarus generally goes through three procedures: the first is to cut down the trees, the second to grind the roots, and the third to clear the fertile soil. Only after the three processes are completed will the construction site be obtained.

"If one tree can be left, it is one tree; if one patch of woods can be left, it is one patch!"

After study and discussion, they made the final choice - not to build a construction fence, but to set aside 3.41 hectares of land from the 25.92 hectares of construction land developed in the first phase, and to keep a 15-meter-wide original forest belt around the plot to form an ecological fence with the forest belt, so that the logistics park is located in the forest.

Facilities of China-Belarus Trade and Logistics Park in the forest (Photo provided by China Merchants Group)

Therefore, in the soon-to-be-developed forest, the construction team of CMG set up an ecological protection red line of nearly 3,000 meters. The site engineer Andre, looked at the surface-clearing drawings and gave a thumbs-up saying, "You love the forest here more than we do. You are the first to develop it this way."

In order to prevent mis-cutting, the team sent special personnel to supervise the cutting of trees on site, check the landmarks in time, and actively use aerial photography technology to dynamically grasp the situation of ecological protection.

Primitive forest belts are reserved around the China-Belarus Trade and Logistics Park. (Photo provided by China Merchants Group)

In the spring of 2018, China Merchants Charity Foundation donated 800 fruit trees to the China-Belarus Trade and Logistics Park, with a view to creating a fruitful forest of China-Belarus friendship. Nowadays, 800 fruit trees have taken root and spit out buds on the 50-meter-wide and 1-kilometer-long forest belt, and the branches are covered with fruits every year in the harvest season.

China-Belarus Friendship Fruit Orchard donated by China Merchants Charity Foundation (Photo provided by China Merchants Group)

In 2019, the construction of the China-Belarus Trade and Logistics Park changed from "freehand brushwork" to "workmanship". The construction team has carefully planned and designed 19 new primitive ecological forest belts on the planning map of Zone I of Great Stone Industrial Park. The forests with a total area of 30 hectares have been protected in coordination with the greening planning of the development environment of the park. With a green ecological forest belt against the constantly built plants, office buildings, the green Belt and Road Initiative concept has been transformed into practical actions. Gradually, it has been deeply rooted in the hearts of local people.

Editor: Yu Huichen