"China's help boosts our confidence in fighting against COVID-19"

"I can finally go home. I'll never forget the time here,"said happily a Nigerian who was confirmed the infection of COVID-19 in mid-July and was cured after more than ten days of treatment in a makeshift hospital inAbuja, capital of Nigeria.

The makeshift hospital was put into use in March after a renovation by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Nigeria Limited (CCECC-Nigeria).It has helped a lot in local combat against the pandemic. Up to date, the hospital has received 602 COVID-19 patients, with 531 of them healed and 10 transferred to other hospitals.

In March, the Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Muhammadu Bello was very anxious about how to build a makeshift hospital as soon as possible and improve the treatment capacity. He went to operation department of CCECC-Nigeria and expressed his hope of transforming the comprehensive maintenance center building of the city railway depot into a makeshift hospital within two weeks.

The Chinese staff of the CCECC-Nigeria project department immediately started the transformation task, including introducing water supply and electricity, renovating the hall, laundry rooms, and toilets, building new functional rooms such as disinfection rooms and changing rooms, and moving and assembling hospital beds and medical equipment, among others. After a two-day field survey, the project department quickly defined related plans and tasks.

Zhang Hongcai was responsible for interior decoration. For four days, he and his three team members worked from 6:00 to 22:00, and finally the water pipes were remodeled. Circuit redesign was another challenge, for there are rail tracks nearby and dense optical cables and wiresunderground. "In order to protect the equipment, when we bury the poles, we have to get down on the ground and check every pipe. Time is tight and the task is urgent.We race against time, without a word of complaint," saidZhao Dong, who was in charge of power system transformation. 

Meanwhile, in the case of Abuja's lockdown, the staff carried special passes and knocked on doors door to door to buy materials from merchants. The company's other projects departments also quickly sent much-needed supplies:the Abuja airport terminal project department sent scaffold, floor paint and cables, the Kano project department sent medical screens, and the operation department delivered plumbing materials from the warehouse. "To build the steel-structure disinfection room, we dismantled the original security room and finally got together the building materials…" recalled Zhang Gui who was in charge of the disinfection room.

In two weeks, a five-story, 506-bed makeshift hospital was delivered on time. FCT officials repeatedly praised the project team when seeing the tidy wards and well-equipped beds.

"China's help has boosted our confidence in combating the pandemic," said a senior technician working in CCECC-Nigeria for over seven years, adding that in the face of difficulties, Chinese builders' expertise and professionalism are particularly admirable.