EU first: Chinese workers rebuild Polish motorways
By Agence France-Presse, Updated: 5/26/2011
In the heart of the Polish countryside, about 500 Chinese workers toil frenetically on a new stretch of the A2 motorway connecting Berlin and Warsaw — an unprecedented sight both here and across the EU.
Poland has become the first country in the 27-member bloc to open its doors to a Chinese company on a public works contract, thanks to the firm’s controversial low bid that beat out several European competitors.
In a place where farmers grew potatoes a year ago, a team of Chinese workers install metal frames to be filled with concrete for a future bypass at Wiskitki, a village about 50-kilometres (31-miles) west of Warsaw.
“These two stretches of the A2 are a priority project for us,” Wang Junmin, deputy chief executive of the China Overseas Engineering Group (COVEC), told AFP.
And they are a bigger priority for Poland. When the ex-communist country joined the European Union in 2004, it had practically no motorway network to speak of.
Today, Warsaw’s goal is to complete 1,800 kilometres of highway by 2012 — including this link between the German and Polish capitals — to be well prepared to co-host the Euro 2012 football championships.
“Besides the 500 workers who came in January, another 300 will soon arrive from China as reinforcement,” said Wang. “Together with the Poles, we should have 1,300 people at the building site.”
But COVEC may need even more labourers to make up for time lost when work was all but frozen last week after the firm’s Polish sub-contractors halted supplies because of unpaid invoices.
COVEC sent its CEO Fang Yuanming to Warsaw to break the deadlock.
After several days of talks at the Polish ministry for infrastructure, the two sides reached an agreement under which the group pledged to cover the late payments by May 30.
“We will return to the building site as soon as we have the money,” said Robert Grzybowski, owner of Techno Car, which is owed 131,000 euros (185,000 dollars) by COVEC for trucks and excavators.
To win its first public works contract in an EU state, COVEC bid to build nearly 50 kilometres of the motorway for 1.3 billion zlotys (330 million euros, 465 million dollars), or what was considered half the estimated price tag.
The choice of a Chinese company sparked controversy from the start as the Polish chamber of road builders accused COVEC of unfair pricing.
“It is certain that they will lose money there,” Wojciech Milusi, president of the chamber, told AFP.
“They’re ready to do it to have a good reference for bidding in other building tenders in the EU. And since this is a company controlled by the state, the losses will be covered by China itself,” he added.
The Chinese group says it can build a kilometre of motorway for 6.6 million euros, underbidding the price of its most expensive rival by nearly 200 percent.
COVEC management explains the rock-bottom costs by “our own special style of management”, which includes collective dormitories with bunk beds, set up in an empty school the company has rented nearby.
At noon, lunch is delivered straight to the building site.
“The Chinese work day and night, 12 hours a day, seven days a week, and even during holidays,” said Krzysztof Lenarczyk, a Wiskitki town hall official in charge of infrastructure.
“They started work in January (when public construction works are suspended in Poland) and they worked throughout the worst sub-zero weather,” he added.
“The work is no longer as tough as it was,” said Xu Chengbing, a 38-year-old worker from the Anhui province in eastern China, who returned to the building site early in the morning after working a 12-hour night shift.
He said he does not yet know exactly how much he will earn since the wages are sent directly to China.
“We don’t get money in Poland,” he said as he munched on a rice pudding with Chinese jujube dates, part of a meal prepared by Chinese cooks in a garage re-fitted as a kitchen.
“We don’t need it after all — we get both accommodation and food here,” he said.
Source: http://news.malaysia.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4874056
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China’s strong productivity growth, and is the leading cause of China’s unprecedented economic performance. It is not surprised China has won a public contract in Poland for the first time in the European Union. Have incredible manpower and advance technologies ,the Chinese could build two sections of the Warsaw-Berlin motorway , right in the middle of Poland. A total of five hundred workers are working day and night to finish the project. COVEC been the world’s third largest construction company accepted the project after some disputes. Many were surprised to see the Chinese committed to such major project. Poland has become the first country to open its doors to a Chinese company on a public works contract.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing. Since then many countries have been looking forward to work with China.
Fantastic deal……. a Chinese company has won a public works contract for the first time in the European Union. A motorway connecting Berlin and Warsaw was materialised with the Chinese workers working hard to succeed the projects. They are aggressive ,hardworking and will complete their projects in time provided there were no hints and problems. The construction workers lived a simple life as they are provided with food and accommodation and do not mind working hard . More countries are looking forward to work with the China Chinese in bigger projects.
Thank you for sharing this article.
I like this attitude of get it done by the Chinese. It will make worldwide progress that much more competitive, as they are willing to do it faster, cheaper and with less hassles along the way.
Whats not to like about working with the Chinese in this sense. Then hopefully with more exposure with the rest of the world they can be influenced to change some of the less than appealing aspects of the culture, like attitude to animals.
The Chinese are truly amazing in catching up with the rest of the world. China is now the 2nd largest economy in the world! Every time I visit Shanghai, there are tons of new buildings.
I was told that the Chinese can construct an office building within 6 to 9 months as compared to the norm of 1.5 years to 2 years. I couldn’t believe it when I heard it. During my recent trip to Shanghai to attend the opening of Kechara Tea House
http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/kechara-13-depts/official-opening-of-kechara-tea-house-shanghai.html
With the diligence and competitiveness, the Chinese will be the number 1 nation in the world very soon.
Everyone in the world is now looking into CHINA. CHINA chinese are known to be aggressive and they will go all the way to succeed. Every big, medium and small international firms wants to be part of China success story. Now they are making motorway for Poland at a loss some more to build their portfolio up.
Now Kechara has a tea house in Shanghai. Please look at the blog below :-
http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/kechara-13-depts/official-opening-of-kechara-tea-house-shanghai.html
The Chinese has such incredible manpower and force, and are able to think outside the box to win the bid, by lowering down their prices and beating other companies with the best price by a stunning 200%.
Not only are they able to do that, they are also able to send over so many workers, and have them all be self sustaining eventhough they don’t receive any money when they are working in Poland.
Eventhough the company is making a loss, I think more importantly they are banking in on the testimonial received from such a big project. They overlook the material gain, but focus instead on having a big project to secure the company’s name, as well as to get the job done for the Polish, and to get it in time before their big event – Euro 2012
This goes to show the group of people working in Poland are so simple; as long as the basic neccessities are provided (ie food and accomodation), they are able to excel in their job functions and need not ask for more. If the basic neccessities in life are provided, what more is there to ask for?