CNEEC: Participant in Iraq's reconstruction
- By Xian Jun
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E-mail China Today, September 8, 2015
Overcoming difficulties
The project faced unexpected challenges during construction. As the security situation in Hillah is worrying, security was a first and foremost concern.
In June 2014, when ISIS launched its first terrorist attack targeting Iraq, refugees flocked southward from Mosul to Baghdad and Babylon province. Some in the crowd looted shops on Hillah's main streets, causing public safety concerns, although it was difficult to distinguish terrorists from refugees.
The CNEEC project department paid close attention to the situation and its development. Guided by the Chinese embassy in Baghdad and with the help of Chinese security consultants, the company drew up and regularly updated a set of security plans. This enabled them to cope with the local situation and prepare the necessary resources for evacuation. To be ready for contingencies, all workers were required to take part in the security drill after working hours.
Project funding was another problem. One of the world's top crude oil exporters, Iraq has suffered from plummeting oil prices on the global market these past several years. Worse still, it has had to allocate large sums towards fighting terrorist organizations. These two factors depleted the country's finances, forcing the government to dip into its financial allocations for the next two years.
Earlier this year, Iraqi civil servants had not been paid for several months, and ordinary people had to make ends meet through their savings. The Ministry of Municipal Administration and Public Utilities, meanwhile, had been unable to pay various contractors since December 2014. The sewage treatment plant project – which involves huge material and labor costs – depends entirely on funding from the Iraqi central government. It thus fell to CNEEC, as the project executor, to rapidly find a solution to this stumbling block as the work on it would otherwise stall.
The last but not least challenge was that of different engineering standards. As CNEEC's business manager for this project, I have been in charge of the work for almost three years. At the start, after perusing Iraqi laws and regulations on project contracting, I noticed that local executive units were still using British engineering standards from the 1980s, yet its current engineering laws and regulations used the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) as a reference. I assumed that the Iraqi project directors would adhere to international standards to ensure smooth communication between Chinese and local engineers.
But there is always a gap between plans and on-the-ground situations. As there are big differences between China and the United Kingdom's engineering standards, not many Chinese designers and construction units are familiar with the latter. It is important to note that, after years of research and revisions, the scientificity and feasibility of Chinese engineering standards are now equal to those of the U.S., U.K. and major European countries.
During discussions for plan approval, Chinese designers patiently explained project details to the Iraqi engineers, especially design considerations and internal scientificity.
"The 10-year Iraq War left the country devastated. What's gone is not only the city's fine appearance and people's stable life, but also excellent talents, such as engineers and teachers. The skills of young engineers in Iraq have obviously fallen behind those of the previous generation," said Director Murad of the Design Department at the Ministry of Municipal Administration and Public Utilities. "Young engineers at construction sites hope to learn practical knowledge and skills from their Chinese counterparts," he added.
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