Building constructive partnership

Above: A Chinese technician trains a local worker on machine tool skills. Below: Local residents use a well dug by the cement unit of CRBC back in 2006. Photos Provided to China Daily

Chinese company takes productive csr steps in congo, including sponsoring students in a university

At Chang'an University in Xi'an, a history-making group of 20 students from the Republic of Congo began their overseas studies in China in January.

They are the first Congolese students to study in China. Majoring in civil engineering; coastal and offshore engineering; and project management, the group is sponsored by China Road and Bridge Corp, one of the nation's biggest offshore construction contractors.

Congo is one of the company's key overseas markets and in 2012, CRBC decided on a plan to fund 100 Congolese students to study for five years at Chang'an University in Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi province.

The 100 students will be sent in five batches during the next five years to the university, one of the top colleges in the province.

"The project aims to cultivate professional talents that would boost and devote themselves to the economic development of Congo in the future," says Zhang Jianchu, chairman of the board at CRBC.

CRBC's project "is in line with the Chinese saying: 'We help not just with the fish, but with the fishing,'" says Li Shuli, the Chinese ambassador to the Republic of Congo.

CRBC, which wants to expand its market in Africa, has been involved in Congo infrastructure over the past decade. From 2008 to 2012, CRBC constructed the first phase of a highway, a transportation artery linking the southern and northern regions of the country.

In 2011, CRBC workers worked to upgrade the north Congo airport in Ouesso, which had fallen into disrepair and is surrounded by rainforest. The airport reopened for operations that same year.

The second phase of the Congo highway that CRBC is helping to construct is now under way and employs more than 500.

Another CRBC project is located in Brazzaville, the capital. Societe Nouvelle des Ciments du Congo, a cement division of CRBC, built a cement factory with the help of Congo government officials. Funded by CRBC and the local government with loans from the Export-Import Bank of China, the factory was established in 2004 to tackle the shortage of cement in the African country.

"We provided Congo with a great amount of high quality cement, keeping cement prices steady and helping infrastructure construction as well," says Li Zhihuai, general manager of CRBC's Congo cement company.

CRBC has also stepped in during times of crisis for the country.

In March 2012, a forest fire broke out near a village. Since the water supply was too far from the village and because of the villagers' lack of experience in battling fires, the blaze quickly spread to nearby villages. But CRBC organized fire brigades and eventually extinguished the fire.

The division has also constructed water supply pipes, public wells, repaired public infrastructures and schoolhouses, and given charitable donations. It has donated medicine and medical supplies - including 20 mattresses - to a hospital in the town of Loutete and provided cement to help rebuild the hospital and a nearby road.

In 2006, the unit sponsored a soccer game that has grown in popularity in the African nation. Congo media covered the match, which helped to publicize CRBC and its charitable work throughout the country.

The company has also launched film-viewing activities during the weekends by setting up an open-air cinema and showing Chinese, American and European films.

In 2011, the Chinese-African People's Friendship Association honored CRBC with the China-Africa Friendship Award.

"Gratitude and reward are the core principles of CRBC culture. Keeping in mind at all times of fulfilling social responsibilities, CRBC will push forward welfare undertakings with great enthusiasms in Africa," Zhang says.

baochang@chinadaily.com.cn