China-built water treatment plant hailed

Having been stationed in Mongolia for 11 years, Wang Jilin feels proud as he departs from a Mongolian airport after a local customs official gave him a hearty smile upon seeing that he's with China Railway No 4 Engineering Group.

"CREC4 has constructed a lot of projects in Mongolia and has become a well-known name to Mongolians," Wang said, adding that the warm smiles he receives make all the painstaking efforts worthwhile.

Since the 1950s, Chinese aid workers have come to Mongolia, helping construct over 850 projects, including highways, port facilities, shantytown renovation, urban infrastructure, as well as desertification prevention and control works.

On June 15, a central sewage treatment plant built by State-owned CREC4 officially began operating in Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital, and on June 30, Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh inspected the facility.

Spanning 178,000 square meters and comprising 55 individual buildings with a designed daily processing capacity of 250,000 cubic meters, it is the largest and most advanced sewage treatment facility in Mongolia, Wang said.

After examining the plant's major treatment units and receiving a detailed briefing, Khurelsukh highly praised the facility, calling it a symbol of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Mongolia and a testament to the friendship between the two peoples.

Wang said the plant can collect and treat domestic and industrial wastewater across Ulaanbaatar, serving nearly half of Mongolia's population of around 3.5 million, and significantly improving water quality in the capital.

"At busy times in our work, we could see some 400 Mongolian builders and 700 Chinese builders work side by side on the construction site. It was quite impressive," said Wang, who acts as Party chief for the CREC4 team that built the plant.

Better livelihoods

The sewage treatment plant — a key Belt and Road undertaking — is only part of the many public works projects CREC4 has undertaken in Mongolia, said Wang from CREC4 First Engineering.

"But the plant carries vital importance," said Zhang Jiawei, chief engineer of the CREC4 team that built the plant.

In addition to serving nearly half of Mongolia's population, the country's most advanced sewage treatment facility ensures that water quality will be improved in the capital, as all treated sewage will finally enter the Selenge River, which eventually empties into Lake Baikal — the world's oldest and deepest freshwater lake.

Located in the southwestern part of Ulaanbaatar, in Songino Khairkhan district, the project includes pump houses in an old plant area, sewage pipelines into the plant, the new central sewage treatment plant and the tailwater discharge channels.

During its official inauguration on Feb 2, 2019, President Khurelsukh — who served as the nation's prime minister at the time — said many important projects in Ulaanbaatar were built with the help of Chinese friends.

Greatly elevating living conditions in Ulaanbaatar and improving public well-being, "it will become a model project of pragmatic cooperation between Mongolia and China", he said.

During a visit to the work site of the plant on Aug 17, 2021, Begzhavyn Monkhbaatar, then Mongolian minister for urban and construction development, applauded CREC4's efforts in building the facilities.

During construction work, CREC4 provided some 3,000 jobs for the locals.

Local resident Tsedev, who goes by one name only, said that at the guidance of Chinese colleagues, he learned to read Chinese project drawings and worked as a competent CREC4 builder.

"The salary here is higher than many others, and I can also learn many new skills," he said, adding that his hard work helped win recognition of CREC4, which awarded him a title of "Excellent Mongolian Worker" in 2021 as well as a bonus of 1,000 yuan ($148).

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, delivered a speech on June 15, as the sewage treatment plant launched operations.

China has always supported Mongolia in developing its economy and improving people's livelihoods, he said, adding that the cooperation always benefits the Mongolian people, with bilateral ties becoming a model of friendly coexistence, and common development and prosperity among neighboring countries.

Uyirs Tuguldur, director of the Presidential Office of Mongolia, hailed it as a major achievement of Mongolia-China cooperation, bringing tangible benefits to the Mongolian people.

He also expressed gratitude for China's support in Mongolia's socioeconomic development.

Bonds of friendship

Earlier, CREC4 helped build the Development Center for Disabled Children in Mongolia, the No 2 Highway, and the country's first expressway leading to the new airport in Ulaanbaatar, which opened to traffic in late 2017, said Wang Jilin.

CREC4 is going all out to link the Belt and Road Initiative with Mongolia's Steppe Road Program, unveiled in November 2014, to reinvigorate its economy through transport and trade, he said.

Currently, CREC4 is still involved in projects in Mongolia, including the Qiaoba Mountain Highway Project in Eastern province; construction at Ulan Mine; and project management of a commercial/residential construction project in Ulaanbaatar, said Wu Yiyong, publicity chief of CREC4 First Engineering.

Back in July 2019, when the two-way six-lane expressway leading to the new airport in Ulaanbaatar was officially handed over to the Mongolian government, Khurelsukh said at the time that he believed "it can play a very good role", adding that "the quality is very good and it is of a very high standard".

Construction commenced on June 6, 2016, and the entire line was completed on Oct 12, 2018.

On Oct 19, 2023, Liu Bo, Party secretary and chairman of CREC4, also attended a signing ceremony in Beijing for CREC4's construction of a 6.96-kilometer railway line in Mongolia.

The signing ceremony between CREC4 and its Mongolian partners was for CREC4's general contracting of engineering project in building the Mongolian Xiberkulun Port Railway Engineering Project, another BRI undertaking.

The railway will start from the Sino-Mongolian cross-border point at the end of China's Linhe-Ceke Railway in Inner Mongolia, and extends northward for some 6.96 km. There will be a newly built facility — Xiberkulun Port Station. China's Ceke Port is situated along the China-Mongolia border.

Unseen contributions

Mao Mingliang, director of the engineering division of the CREC4 project department for building the Development Center for Disabled Children in Mongolia, said he had witnessed the hardship Chinese aid workers met in Mongolia.

The project site was located in the Tuul River Valley, with sandy and rocky geological conditions and extremely abundant groundwater — making building homes in the area akin to conducting construction on watery tofu, he said.

The foundation pit needed to be dug five meters below ground, with some sections reaching 6.5 meters. "During the trial excavation phase when the digging was less than one meter deep, numerous 'spring eyes' emerged at the bottom of the pit, bubbling up with water," recalled Yu Jin, the project's chief engineer.

The team ultimately adopted a "tube and well dewatering" solution — drilling three threaded steel pipes in the north and south outside the foundation-pit excavation line, allowing the groundwater to seep into the pipes and continuously pumping it out with high-pressure pumps.

The project was completed 10 days ahead of schedule, and in 2019, it won the "Best Architecture Award" for 2019 in Mongolia, Mao said.

The construction conditions were harsh, as Mongolia can have temperatures as low as — 40 C, sandstorms and heavy snowfall were common, water shortages were constant and communications were underdeveloped, creating challenges for Chinese builders.

Wang Jilin recalled that in constructing the central sewage treatment plant in Ulaanbaatar, extreme cold temperatures were a big challenge.

"The project is located in a high-altitude region, with winter lasting for five months, and long-term very low temperatures can lead to unstable concrete performance, limiting construction processes," Wang said.

Meanwhile, the lack of supporting resources for large-scale sewage treatment projects in local regions also posed severe challenges throughout the project, he said.

"The construction team has optimized a special construction plan for extremely cold weather, and innovated low-temperature construction techniques, by adding insulation enclosure structures for biological treatment units, and customizing antifreeze protection devices for deep treatment equipment and pipelines," Wang recalled.

"Although the work was arduous, it was also a treasure in my work and in my life, as we had solidified our friendships among us, and it can last a lifetime," he said.

Wang said that he is immensely happy with his work, as it can help strengthen the friendship between the two peoples.

hanjingyan@chinadaily.com.cn