Guizhou establishes infrastructure construction reputation overseas

The CW1-3 contract segment of the Ulaanbaatar-Darkhan Highway is accepted this year. [Photo/ddcpc website]

The Ulaanbaatar-Darkhan Highway's CW1-3 contract segment in Mongolia accepted this year is Guizhou Highway Engineering Group Co's first overseas project and is the company's response to the Belt and Road Initiative.

The highway is an important transportation route connecting Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, to Darkhan, the country's second-largest city. Darkhan serves as a vital hub for the road linking Mongolia to Russian ports and is a crucial route for China to access the Baikal region in Russia.

With a total length of over 180 kilometers, the completion of this project will help improve Mongolia's transportation infrastructure and promote connectivity among Mongolia, China, and Russia. After fierce competition, Guizhou Highway Engineering Group Co emerged as the winner from 28 bidding companies for the project.

"It's much easier to build a road on nearly flat grasslands compared to our experiences in Guizhou, where we must conquer mountains and build bridges," said Jiang Chengde, project manager of No 8 Engineering Co of Guizhou Highway Engineering Group Co.

"However, overseas projects often require us to explore uncharted territory. For instance, we needed 300,000 cubic meters of crushed stone, sand, and 50,000 tons of asphalt for the foundation and road surfaces. We also required large-scale construction machinery such as a type 3,000 asphalt mixing plant, a type 600 stabilized soil mixing plant, and a type 1,000 stone crusher. Yet, none of these were available in Mongolia. So, we brought them from Guizhou," Jiang added.

Due to the long winter hiatus in Mongolia, the construction team decided to take advantage of the long daylight hours and short nights in spring and summer and extended working hours to 15 hours per day.

The establishment and enhancement of a standardized construction system that suits the project's needs, strengthens technological innovation, and solves technical difficulties helped the company win recognition from clients, and showcased the capabilities of Guizhou's transportation forces in the international infrastructure construction field.