China’s bridge construction firm willing to build infrastructure projects in Pakistan

BEIJING: China's renowned bridge construction has cooperation with many Belt and Road countries and hope to come to Pakistan to build more infrastructure projects, said Gao Zongyu, Deputy to National People's Congress (NPC) from Hubei province of China.

"We have built bridges in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Maldives, and Croatia and other European countries. We really hope, we can come to Pakistan and to build more infrastructure and transportation projects," he said during a meeting of the Hubei province held on the sidelines of "Two Sessions" in Beijing.

Gao, also chief scientist of China Railway Corporation Limited and chief expert of China Railway Bridge Survey and Design Institute Group Co. Ltd, informed that China's bridge construction, with Hubei as a pacesetter, has taken the lead in the world, and it is now a well-recognized brand of Chinese construction.

He said, the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge built over 70 year ago marked the beginning of large-scale modern bridge construction in China and added, today, China boasts over one million bridges spanning rivers, lakes, seas, plateaus, and canyons, playing a vital role in underpinning economic and social development.

He said, the success of Chinese construction can be attributed to the following factors, including a collaborative innovation system among industry, academia, research, and application; a comprehensive supply chain encompassing theory, materials, design, construction, equipment, and operation and maintenance; a large number of dedicated engineers and highly skilled workers with sound knowledge and considerable experience; as well as the grand vision of developing China's strengths in transportation and promoting the Belt and Road Initiative.

With the high-quality development in the new era, new requirements need to be met for Chinese construction.

Gao expressed the confidence that through continuous innovation, China will achieve the smart and green transformation of the bridge industry in the near future.

"In doing so, we will make big strides on the path from Chinese construction to smart Chinese construction, and contribute to the high-quality development of China's transportation, as well as infrastructure connectivity between China and participating countries of the Belt and Road Initiative, and even the whole world.”

Gao said, in his career as a bridge engineer for nearly 40 years, the Pingtan Strait Road-Rail Bridge is the most unforgettable project he has ever engaged in. However, Chinese bridge builders faced the challenges squarely and made a series of technological innovations.

"We established a joint forecast system for wind and wave conditions, which enabled us to accurately predict the arrival time of strong winds at the construction site and determine when we could conduct construction.”

He said, thanks to these technological innovations, with seven years of strenuous efforts, we managed to withstand 29 typhoons, including super typhoons such as Soudelor, Haitang, and Maria, and completed the project at the end of 2020.