Dapilon-Santou Railway in Guinea: The road of shared hope

BEIJING, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Enterprise Global Image Summit 2021 was held in Beijing under the guidance of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) and All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC) and sponsored by the China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration. China Railway 18th Bureau Group Co., Ltd. (CRCC18) submitted a cross-cultural integration case - The road of shared hope, which was awarded an "Excellent Case of Overseas Social Responsibility" in the activity of "2021 (4th) Global Image Building Cases of Chinese Enterprises".

As one of the five award-winning enterprises, CRCC18 was invited to deliver a speech at the summit.

CRCC18's case demonstrates CRCC18's practical exploration that the overseas constructors actively integrate into local society, make every effort to help improve people's livelihood and spread the community of human destiny from the perspectives of responsibility, hope and construction.

"Thank you for what you have done for our community,” said the chief of the Malapua community in Guinea, “I wish you had come earlier."

Photo shows the project department erected a bridge for the local community

The Dapilon-Santou Railway Project Department is located near the Malapua community in Guinea. During the rainy season, the only access road to the city is flooded and safety accidents often occur. Knowing the situation, the project department took the initiative to build a bridge. "Thank you, Chinese uncle,” excitedly said Aisha, an 8-year-old girl, looking at the newly built bridge, “I love you!”

The bridge ended the history of the local people wading across the river, as the bridge of friendship between the Chinese constructors and the Guinean people. In addition to repairing houses, paving roads and building bridges, the project department provided clean drinking water for the people around the camps free of charge. The villagers received the water, smiling and expressing their gratitude to the project teams. As of June 2021, the project teams had provided nearly 600 tonnes of drinking water.

Photo shows the project department presents rice and other living materials to local residents

During the local traditional festivals, the Chinese staff would go into the local communities to send festive blessings with rice, fresh vegetables, cooking oil and other daily necessities. In 2021, the project department carried out a volunteer service activity in the Hafia community along the railway, presenting rice, cooking oil, masks and other daily necessities, and epidemic prevention materials to the local villagers, distributing more than 300 epidemic prevention leaflets, and introducing epidemic prevention knowledge to the villagers.

-- Hope: Opening the door to happiness

"I have a Chinese architect named Zhang Kun. We're responsible for communication with local communities. We are the best partners." Ousman, nearly 50 years old, is an assistant employed locally by the project department. He has a lean body and sparkling eyes, and is a native of Farana Province.

Photo shows the Ousman (third from left) and Zhang Kun (fourth from left) together with the community residents

Since they arrived in Guinea, the project department has carried out "localization" management and actively recruited local talents to participate in the project construction. At the same time, the project department has set up training sessions for local employees on stud anchoring, reinforcement, testing, etc., and provided basic skills training in the most intuitive way by video demonstration.

Through multi-level, comprehensive and systematic training, hydraulic track lifting and shifting machines and hydraulic tamping machines have been fully operated by local employees. At the peak of construction, the project department could employ as many as 3,000 local people, with a Chinese-Guinean ratio of 1:10, and the localization ratio maintained higher than 90% over the whole construction period.

Photo shows the project staff giving a lecture of CPR training

For the long-term development of Guinean employees, the project department has established a unified salary system, conducted performance assessment and made career planning for Guinean employees.

Photo shows Jayhro (right), a tester, is doing a geotechnical test

Diallo, a young local man employed as an interpreter at the beginning, has become a skilled HR assistant in labor management, external coordination, community services and material procurement as he continues to learn and improve himself.

Jayhro was educated in local schools, and employed as a tester in the project laboratory. Through more than a year of work and study, Jayhro can now independently perform tests on water content, steel tensile, concrete collapse, etc., with test results recorded in a standard manner. In his opinion, he could get a better job in the future with this skill.

-- Construction: Fulfilling commitments

In May 2019, the Dapilon-Santou Railway Project commenced its construction, as the first modern freight railway in Guinea after 1974. Local governments and enterprises along the railway were concerned with its scheduled operation in June 2021.

Photo shows the construction site of Erection of first T-beam frame of Dapilon-Santou Railway

The project started with a sprint. In May 2019, it was still in the rainy season in Guinea, and all kinds of machinery, equipment and materials shipped from China were already in place. In just one month, the project department completed the pavement of 5.5 km long access roads through three villages and the clearing of 350,000 square meters of land. On July 12, 2019, the first blasting of the roadbed earth marked the leading progress of LOT 2 of the project, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent construction of the whole railway.

Photo shows the train running on Dapilon-Santou Railway

"I feel that an upward force is inspiring us. In Guinea, we are facing really many challenges, but we all did not retreat. We have successfully withstood the psychological and physical pressure. Strange to say, at that time, we all seemed to maintain strong momentumin our hearts. No matter how hard it was, we had to make the project work!" Li Lingyun, a graduate in 2019, still recalls the days of construction with great excitement.

On June 16, 2021, Dapilon-Santou Railway was successfully opened to traffic! On the day of the opening, countless Guinean people stood along the railway, and when the first train came slowly, local people and employees from China and Guinea could not help but wave to the train, cheering and applauding for a long time.