State-owned engineer building infrastructure worth billions

China Harbour Engineering Co, also known as CHEC, entered the Colombian market in 2010 and registered China Harbour Colombia Branch. It was a Chinese-funded enterprise that entered the Colombian infrastructure market early. The contract value under construction exceeds $6 billion.

Among its projects in Colombia is Bogota's first metro line, a fully automatic driving rail project in the country. The dynamic contract value of the project is about $5.75 billion and the concession period is 28 years. As the concessionaire, CHEC undertakes the investment, financing, design, construction, commissioning, operation and maintenance of the new 23.96-kilometer metro line. After completion, Metro Line 1 will be the artery of Bogota's public transportation, offering citizens a green travel approach with a low energy cost.

The Mar2 Highway Project is the first public-private partnership project in Latin America sponsored by Chinese companies and is also the second-largest PPP project in Colombia's national 4G infrastructure scheme. CHEC is undertaking the investment, financing, design, construction, operation and maintenance. The dual-lane two-way highway has a total length of 277.7 km with a designed speed of 80 km per hour. Investment totals about $1.08 billion and the concession period is 25 to 29.5 years. It is to play a critical role in promoting the economic development of Colombia and is therefore praised as "the road to prosperity".

Guided by the Belt and Road Initiative, CHEC abides by its core values of "keen responsibility, excellent rewards and win-win cooperation", fulfills its social responsibility and contributes positively to the economic and social development of countries and regions to achieve common development.

CHEC has always been committed to protecting biodiversity. During the construction of the Mar2 project, a total of 361,500 epiphytes and 5,904 regional protective saplings were transplanted, and about 250 hectares of trees were planted. At the same time, a total of 134 wild animals, with 49 species, were relocated.

In order to show the environmental and cultural diversity of the project area, a Chinese and Spanish bilingual version of the book, Diversity Mar2, was compiled, which introduces in detail the most representative animal and plant species, ecosystems, geographical conditions and ethnic culture along the project area. CHEC fulfills its social responsibilities and provides assistance to the local authorities and residents.

Since the establishment of Bogota's metro line project in 2019, the project team has been incorporating outstanding talents who graduated from prestigious universities, professionals with extensive resumes and senior consultants familiar with the local market. Until now, Metro Line 1 has reached a 75 percent local employee rate. It is expected to generate a cumulative total of 8,950 direct and indirect job opportunities over the five-year construction period.

In terms of cultural relics protection, the Indian Culture Museum was jointly built with the National Archaeological Service of Colombia and the Dabeiba Municipal Government to display a large number of archaeological and social work achievements made by the company during the project's construction. It reflects CHEC's integration into local society, respect for local culture and promotes the development and improvement of social welfare undertakings.

It also reveals the company's fulfillment of social responsibilities and efforts to promote cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.