More than 2,000 years ago, Zhang Qian, an envoy in the Han Dynasty, went on a mission to the Western Regions and opened up the “Silk Road”.

Today, based on the “Belt and Road” Initiative, which enhances the cooperation of countries along the ancient road and provides a platform to build a community with a shared future for mankind, Hunan Construction Investment Group (HCIG) has continued efforts to explore the overseas market and shined brightly along the new “Silk Road”.

“HCIG has been developing international business in 59 countries and regions since the 1960s. At present, there are 9 subsidiaries in the group engaging in international business, including SHICO, HNCEG, HNRB, Hunan No.6 Engineering Co., Ltd., and Hunan No.2 Engineering Co., Ltd., with an average of nearly 1,000 employees working overseas every day,” said Chen Hao, deputy general manager of HCIG.

Major infrastructure projects such as highways, railways, and power plants have been built by the group on mountain tops, on the shores of the Red Sea, in rainforests, and in desert oases.

As of now, the group has built more than 1.5 million square meters of houses, nearly 13,500 kilometers of roads, more than 100 bridges, 20 tunnels, and 15 power stations.

In the nearly 60 years of expanding overseas markets, the group has improved national facilities in the “Belt and Road” countries with large-scale infrastructure construction, and created a number of landmark projects, such as the China-aided Competitive Wrestling Stadium project in Senegal, China-aided Repair and Expansion of Dominica Hospital, Supply and Installation of Materials & Equipment under the National Electrification Scheme (NES) in Ghana, China-aided Presidential Palace Project in Burundi, No.1 National Highway Project in the Republic of Congo, and Khevi-Ubisa Section of E60 Expressway Project in Georgia.

HNRB has participated in the construction of projects in more than 20 countries such as Rwanda, Kenya, Ethiopia, and the Philippines, ranging from ordinary highways to expressways, large bridges, and tunnels, and exporting bridge construction technology. It began to go global in the late 1970s and currently has 17 overseas projects under construction. More than 64% of the personnel have worked overseas for 10 years or more.

For over 30 years, Hunan International Communications Economic Engineering Cooperation Co., Ltd. has established a “gold brand” in the construction industry in African countries like Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, and Gabon. It has a fixed office base in Mali and owns more than 400 sets of construction machinery and equipment with an original value of 125 million yuan. Its business covers the whole African market. Besides, it has implemented over 400 projects of various sizes overseas and fulfilled contracts worth over 15 billion yuan.

HCIG has also played a role in the construction of municipal projects. Hunan Industrial Equipment Installation Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of HCIG, is one of the strongest and largest comprehensive construction and installation enterprises in China, with the highest market share in the field of waste incineration power generation in the country.

Over the course of more than 40 years of overseas experience, it has undertaken 30 infrastructure projects in 21 countries including Yemen and Ghana, involving such fields as housing construction, electric power, and industrial equipment installation, with a cumulative contract value exceeding 4 billion yuan.

It has also participated in the implementation of overseas projects of several domestic enterprises, such as Junxin’s waste-to-power project in Kyrgyzstan, CATL’s factory construction project in Hungaria and a project in Spain.

There is a huge demand for infrastructure construction in Africa, but some places lack enough funds. For instance, Cote d’Ivoire has many primary agricultural products, but lacks supporting processing facilities, which leads to low product added value and poor export benefits. As for it, HCIG has innovated a new model of integrated development of industrial investment, engineering construction, and product trade by exchanging resources for projects and engineering for products.

The Agricultural Products Processing Plant project in Cote d’Ivoire was the first attempt by Hunan No.6 Engineering Co., Ltd. to implement this model. Initial processing plants are built for rubber, palm oil, cocoa, cashew nuts, etc. locally, and precision processing plants are built in Hunan. After deep processing, the products are sold to downstream factories, achieving the integrated development of industrial investment, engineering construction, and product trade.

The model has reduced the financial pressure of fixed asset investment for import and export trade enterprises, and provided effective guarantees for the recovery of project construction funds for construction enterprises. This year, the company has promoted this model in markets such as Tanzania and Cambodia.

SHICO is the main enterprise engaged in international engineering contracting and international trade of HCIG. In the overall planning of international business, it is positioned as a “leading athlete”. In order to promote the new model through the linkage of industry and trade, the company has deeply explored the demand for “factory” construction projects among its trade customer base, and created multiple new growth points in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and Africa. The profit margin of its trade business is nearly twice as high as the industry average.

In the future, it will go global together with multiple central enterprises and units across the country, in a bid to integrate relevant resources, promote projects, and stimulate new momentum. It will build an international business development pattern that integrates investment, construction, operation, and trade, vigorously promote the integrated development model, prevent and resolve risks, and improve quantity and quality.

At present, the model has been widely used. As the largest foreign economic enterprise in Hunan Province, HCIG has built an economic and trade platform and created a model based on the cooperation of the group and other enterprises for the economic and trade cooperation with Africa, helping the foreign economic and trade development in Hunan.

Jointly building the “Belt and Road” aims to pursue development, achieve win-win results, and deliver hopes. The improvement of people’s livelihood in most of the countries along the “Belt and Road” has been largely hindered by the backward water supply, electricity supply and communication systems.

The power grid project was implemented in the Eastern Region, Northern Region, and Volta in Ghana from 2012 to 2021. HCIG made every effort to overcome difficulties like language barriers, food shortages, inconvenient transportation, and rampant diseases, and ended the history of 772 villages without electricity, bringing light to millions of rural residents. The Reinforcement of Alsharqiya Water Transmission System project implemented in Oman has alleviated the problem of insufficient domestic water supply in the area. There are also many other examples like the above.

High-quality construction of the “Belt and Road” is inseparable from industry support. In June 2019, the first China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo was held in Changsha, accelerating the economic and trade cooperation between Hunan and Africa. Hunan No.2 Engineering Co., Ltd. has partnered with the Hunan Chamber of Commerce in Kenya to jointly build the China-Kenya Economic and Trade Incubation Park project. After the completion of this project, it will become a landmark building in the local area, playing a positive role in improving local employment levels and promoting bilateral economic and trade cooperation between China and Kenya.

The company undertook the China-aided Repair and Expansion for Dominica Hospital project and overcame many difficulties such as the dengue fever epidemic and the super hurricane Maria during the process of the project construction. The Dominican government has renamed the hospital as the Dominica-China Friendship Hospital to show their gratitude.

HCIG also promotes the localization management. In the past 11 years since the “Belt and Road” Initiative was put forward, it has provided nearly 60,000 jobs for local people, and trained a large number of local operators and managers who are familiar with project construction. 

Now, going global is becoming a must for more and more Chinese enterprises. Data shows that in 2023, the amount of overseas capital of Chinese enterprises increased by 11% compared to that in 2022, and the number of overseas Chinese enterprises rose by 23%. Most of these enterprises are central state-owned enterprises. As a provincial state-owned enterprise in the central region, HCIG, with strong strength, is ranked among the top foreign aid brands together with construction investment groups in first tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

Chinese enterprises are constantly expanding their global business scope. According to the International Cooperation Department of the group, while going global, the group will introduce foreign capital and advanced technology into the domestic market through investment attraction and talent introduction. It will make greater achievements in exporting high-quality productive forces and create new growth points for international business.

As of July this year, the group’s newly signed overseas contracts amounted to 11.25 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 50.6%.

“At the strategic level, overseas business will undergo four major transformations. First, we will focus on exploring the Central Asian market in the future. Second, we will promote the integrated development of industrial investment, engineering construction, and product trade. Third, we will export funds, technology, products, and models instead of labor and management services that we offered over the past few decades. Fourth, we will serve the national “dual circulation” strategy and empower the country’s advanced manufacturing industry to go global,” said Chen Hao.

After 11 years of efforts, the “Belt and Road” Initiative has helped countries involved in the initiative to build a prosperous society and provided a new platform for international trade and investment, injecting new vitality into the global economy.