GLOBALink | Lao workers achieve career development on China-Laos Railway

Since the commencement of the China-Laos Railway construction in December 2016, a number of Lao local talents, pursuing their professional development on the railway, have grown into railway engineering masters.

Khamphiw Tawa, formerly a 36-year-old farmer in the hilly Xiengngeun district of northern Laos' Luang Prabang province, lived a hard life with four kids to bring up.

Five years ago, many locals still made a living by growing fields or hunting wood in this mountainous area, while the curious Khamphiw noticed many vehicles and Chinese engineers going into the mountains and heard that a long tunnel would be built there for a railway to reach the capital Vientiane.

As soon as the village committee encouraged villagers to apply for jobs with the Chinese company to build the tunnel, Khamphiw went directly to the construction site.

He still remembers his first day on the railway. "On April 13, 2017, I applied for the job," Khamphiw was shown around a steel processing yard with lots of machines he hadn't seen, and he felt it was an opportunity to improve himself and his family's conditions as well.

Khamphiw successfully passed the skilled interview, received training and stayed with the PowerChina Sinohydro Bureau 3 Co., LTD (Sinohydro 3), engaged in welding operations for the railway's tunnel construction.

"I've learned welding before, but it's not the same here. The tools here are modern and I have learned a lot," Khamphiw worked hard, and was soon promoted to head of the local welding team.

To his pride, he was also given the assignment to lead a recruitment campaign in his hometown. "I want my village mates to have good jobs and have the money to support their families," Khamphiw said.

In 2019, Khamphiw was chosen as an "Outstanding Foreign Employee" of Sinohydro 3, and titled as a "Railway Craftsman" by the Laos-China Railway Co., Ltd. (LCRC), a joint venture based in Lao capital Vientiane to build and run the railway.

In the same year of 2019, another 34-year-old man, Somechai Xayyavong, was also named the "Railway Craftsman".

Coming from the mountainous Xiengkhouang Province, Somechai once worked in a local company building a hydropower plant before joining the railway construction with Sinohydro 15 in 2017.

"I learned more knowledge and learned to use higher-end equipment after coming to work on the railway. The construction of the railway is more complex with more advanced technology employed," Somechai told Xinhua.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service