China aiming to be world's civil engineer

With govt's financial power behind them, Chinese companies are winning projects

(SHANGHAI) China, in its continual move up the global economic value chain - from cheap toys to Apple iPads to commercial jetliners - now aims to be the world's civil engineer.

A force to be reckoned with: Showcase projects like the Three Gorges Dam (above) have helped Chinese companies win infrastructure contracts overseas

On the reputation of showcase projects like Beijing's Olympic-size airport terminal and the mammoth hydroelectric Three Gorges Dam, Chinese companies have been hired to build copper mines in the Congo, high-speed rail lines in Brazil and huge apartment complexes in Saudi Arabia.


In New York City alone, Chinese companies have won contracts to help renovate the subway system, refurbish the Alexander Hamilton Bridge over the Harlem River and build a new Metro-North train platform near Yankee Stadium.


As with the Bay Bridge, US union labour would carry out most of the work done on American soil.


American steelworker unions have disparaged the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge contract by accusing the state of California of sending good jobs overseas and settling for what they deride as poor-quality Chinese steel.


Industry groups in the US and other countries have raised questions about the safety and quality of Chinese workmanship on such projects. Indeed, China has had quality control problems ranging from tainted milk to poorly built schools.


But executives and officials who have awarded the various Chinese contracts say their audits have convinced them of the projects' engineering integrity.


And they note that with the full financial force of the Chinese government behind its infrastructure companies, the monumental scale of the work, and the prices bid are hard for private industry elsewhere to beat.


At US$7.2 billion, the Bay Bridge will be one of the most expensive structures ever built. But California officials estimate that they will save at least US$400 million by having so much of the work done in China.
China, the world's biggest steel maker, was the front-runner, particularly because it has dominated bridge building for the last decade. Several years ago, Shanghai opened a 32km sea bridge; the country is now planning a much longer one near Hong Kong.


The selection of the state-owned Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company was a surprise, though, because the company made port cranes and had no bridge building experience.


Zhenhua put 3,000 employees to work on the project: steel-cutters, welders, polishers and engineers. The company built the main bridge tower, which was shipped in mid-2009, and a total of 28 bridge decks - the massive triangular steel structures that will serve as the roadway platform.


Pan Zhongwang, a 55-year-old steel polisher, is a typical Zhenhua worker. He arrives at 7am and leaves at 11pm, often working seven days a week. He lives in a company dormitory and earns about US$12 a day.


'It used to be US$9 a day, now it's US$12,' he said last Wednesday morning, while polishing one of the decks for the new Bay Bridge. 'Everything is getting more expensive. They should raise our pay.'


To ensure the bridge meets safety standards, 250 employees and consultants working for the state of California and American Bridge/Fluor also took up residence in Shanghai.