In the early morning, businessman Kobo Abara drives on Ethiopia's first highway - Addis to Adama Highway, the road is smooth and the field of vision is wide. Looking at the beautiful scenery out of the car window, he felt particularly happy. His family lives in the city of Adama, runs two machinery parts manufacturing plants in Addis, and since the opening of the AA highway, he has been able to save more than two hours on the road every day, making full use of his time at work.

More and more African people like Kobo Abara feel the convenience brought by the highway, and behind this, Chinese enterprises have made a great contribution.

As one of the earliest central enterprises to go global, CCCC has always adhered to the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, actively responded to the Belt and Road Initiative, and exerted its technological advantages in the field of highway and bridge construction, which has successively built the first highway for many African countries, effectively promoted the local economic and social development, and been widely praised by the local government and people.

Promote unimpeded trade

In the second year after the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed, Ethiopia's first highway, which was built by China Communications Construction and implemented by China Communications First Public Bureau Group, was also the highest grade highway in East Africa at that time - the AA highway. The project adopts the combination of Chinese and Egyptian design specifications and construction standards, implements localized management strategy, and trains a group of local management and technical personnel. In 2017, the AA highway project won the Luban Award of China Construction Engineering.

Today, the highway has served Ethiopia for many years. As an important part of the inter-connectivity road network within the East Africa region, a large number of goods are sent through the port via the AA highway to all parts of Ethiopia every day. Among them, the famous volcanic lake tourist city of Debrezette, which passes through the AA highway, is an important flower production base in the country. Flowers that are still sprouting in the greenhouses in the morning, transported by the highway, can be delivered to customers in the afternoon. At the same time, the construction of the AA highway has also led to the development of tourism in the city of Debrezette. Every weekend, a large number of tourists from all over the world come to the volcano lake through the highway to enjoy a quiet leisure time.

Located along the AA highway, the Oriental Industrial Park, built and operated by Chinese companies, is China's national overseas economic and trade cooperation zone and the first industrial park in Ethiopia. Previously, only 17 companies had settled in the park due to poor transportation. Since the opening of the AA highway, the traffic conditions around the park have been significantly improved, and the number of enterprises entering the park has increased significantly, and now it is difficult to find a seat.

Promote people-to-people ties

The highway from Kampala to Entebbe Airport, Uganda, built by China Communications Construction and implemented by China Communications First Public Bureau Group, is known as the first road of Uganda. The completion of this highway has completely changed the history of this country, which is known as a plateau water town, without highways. Modern highways are leading the people of Uganda to prosperity and happiness.

The project builders have brought Chinese road construction technologies and norms into Uganda, jointly discussed road design and construction technologies, cooperated in construction management, and helped Uganda train a large number of road technology management talents. The KE expressway is designed in accordance with the two-way 4-lane design and is fully built in accordance with Chinese codes and standards. During the construction of the KE highway, the project created more than 1,500 engineering and technical jobs for Uganda every year, and more than 90% of the Uzbek employees participated in the construction. At the same time, it has repeatedly repaired roads and dug Wells for local communities and schools, and proactively assumed corporate social responsibility.

CCCC has also brought the enterprise-school cooperation model to Uganda, integrating Chinese technology, management concepts and methods into local colleges and universities, and cooperating with local schools in many fields such as talent training, scientific research and student employment. In 2023, MacRae University, one of the oldest and most prestigious English speaking universities in Africa, held a large-scale special job fair, and Professor Abubakar, acting dean of the School of Civil Engineering, praised: It is a pleasure to work with such a well-known construction company to help us upgrade the school's laboratory equipment and technology, train students and provide them with internship opportunities.

Achieve efficient travel

The N3, the only highway between Yaounde, Cameroon's capital, and the port city of Douala, the country's economic hub, is old and difficult to navigate, and the transport of people and goods between the two places is inefficient. The Cameroonian government and people dream of having a highway that can improve the efficiency of transportation between the two places, and through the Belt and Road Initiative, the first phase of the Yatu Highway project undertaken by the China Communications First Public Bureau Group has turned this dream into a reality.

In the process of construction, CCCC First Public Bureau Group has always carried out the concept of environmental protection, combined with the natural environment of the region, and designed a route that integrates with nature; In order to avoid damage to the environment, we take a variety of environmental protection measures, and actively cooperate with local environmental protection departments to recycle and reuse construction waste.

The builders of the project respect nature and care for the environment. They use modern and advanced construction concepts and environmental protection concepts to build Yatu highway into a green environmental protection project. They are the most responsible contractors I have ever seen. Says Fernand Daniel, a local environmental expert. In 2022, the Yatu Expressway project won the Oscar of the global engineering community - the ENR Global Best Project Award.

Through the Belt and Road Initiative, the builders of the CCI Group have brought technology, talents and environmental protection concepts to the vast land of Africa. Connecting capitals and ports, cities and villages, passing through swamps and jungles, expressways have realized the dream of many African countries to have expressways, and become a vivid practice of building a community with a shared future for mankind.Editor/Ma Xue