Firm's towering ambitions

Chinese and African workers employed by Beijing Construction Engineering Group to build the tallest building in the Republic of Congo. Zhang Wei / China Daily

Years of proving itself with country's government and people led to contract for 30-story towers, company says

A Chinese company has won the contract to build a pair of high-rise buildings in Brazzaville that will become the tallest in the Republic of Congo.

The proposed 30-floor, twin-tower buildings on the shore of the Congo River are the latest project in a string of high-profile government development contracts that have been awarded to Beijing Construction Engineering Group.

Nie Tieli, general manager for the company's Congo operations, confirmed BCEG had beat off bids from several competitors to secure the skyline-altering development in the Congolese capital.

He says the 120-meter twin towers will become "an iconic landmark" and that the newly won contract represents the growing trust regional leaders are placing in Chinese construction projects.

"Construction will start later this year," Nie says. "We expect building will take about 40 months. They will be the tallest buildings in Congo."

News of the latest win for the Chinese company in the increasingly competitive African construction market came as the president of the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso, wrapped up a state visit to China.

Nie says the deal was signed on June 12, during the official visit, with a senior official from Congo's infrastructure ministry.

While Nie was coy about revealing how much the contract is worth, it is understood that the project will top several hundreds of millions of dollars in value. One of the towers has been set aside for use as a luxury hotel, while the other will primarily house office suites. The project is being financed by a commercial, low-interest loan from the Export-Import Bank of China.

Nie was careful to stress that his company's gains in Congo have not been made overnight and are the product of more than a decade of hard work and relationship building.

BCEG, which set up its Brazzaville headquarters in 2003, has built or is working on projects in the Congo worth a total of more than $600 million, most of which are residential housing blocks or government buildings.

These include the 6,000-square-meter, five-story, Brazzaville local government head office completed in 2010 and the 3,500 sq m ministry of justice headquarters built in 2009.

The Congo's first five-star hotel, the Alima Palace in Oyo on the Alima River, was also built by BCEG.

But what turned out to be the biggest lift for the company's reputation was born out of a disaster in which many Congolese and Chinese died.

In March 2012, a military ammunition depot exploded in downtown Brazzaville, killing more than 260 local people and leveling entire buildings in a blast radius that stretched for almost 3 km.

When the dust settled, one building complex a mere 50 meters away from the blast had remained structurally intact, sheltering a large local community living behind it from the worst of the explosion.

It was an almost complete, 200-apartment compound being built by BCEG. Six Chinese workers were killed in the blast. Another 31 were seriously injured.

"This building acted as a shield to protect the people living on the other side," Nie says. "The president thanked us. The people of Congo thanked us.

"After the explosion, we have a very good reputation here."

"It stood up for a reason. There are no earthquakes here in Congo, but we made the design as if there could be, to a Chinese standard that can withstand a magnitude 8 quake."

Government employees soon will move into the complex, which was repaired and refurbished by 130 Chinese and 580 Congolese workers in the wake of the blast.

"After the explosion, the government gave us a contract to build another 300 apartments," Nie says. "This is living proof of the quality of our company. It changed the way the government and people of Congo think about Chinese construction."

Nie says the BCEG apartment complex was independently assessed by a French company after the explosion, and verified to be structurally sound despite its proximity to the blast.

Congo Army Colonel Serge Oyobe is responsible for patrolling the blast zone, much of which remains in ruins. He, for one, was full of praise for the Chinese company.

"It (the BCEG apartment block) protected the local inhabitants behind the building," he says. "It was a miracle."

BCEG now employs about 400 Chinese workers and 2,000 local workers in the Congo.

Nie says most new local employees come to the job with no skills and require extensive training. But he feels that in addition to building much needed housing and infrastructure, training and employment opportunities are ways BCEG is helping the country develop.

Kambi Bithovenne, 26, has been employed as a scaffold worker with BCEG for four years. The married father of two says he was unable to find a job until the Chinese company gave him a chance.

"I was looking for a job for a few years," he says. "This is my first job after I finished school. It is difficult to find a job here. I learned how to do building from the Chinese technicians. When I came here I knew nothing. Now, even if I don't stay with this company, I can get a good job."

Building site manager Ge Fuqun, 50, has been working in the Congo for about 11 years. Ge, who has a wife and adult son in China, says it can be a difficult environment but he finds the overall experience rewarding.

"I've had malaria three or four times. It's hard to be away from my family. I will be a grandfather soon. It's not easy working here, but I like the Congo people very much."

Nie says construction in the Congo presents challenges different to those in China, not the least of which is the massive logistical exercise required to get anything done.

The lack of a developed manufacturing sector in Congo means almost all the materials and equipment need to be imported from China.

"We have to ship everything in," he says.

While Nie says doing business in the Congo is profitable, he maintains short-term profit is not BCEG's main goal.

"I just hope to be able to bring the traditions, standards and best practices from this company, and spread it here."