Chongqing International Construction Corporation: Serving local community and promoting win-win development during ＂Going global＂

Company profile
 
Chongqing International Construction Corporation (CICO) was established in 1985, engaging in domestic and overseas project contracting, import and export trading, labor exporting service, equipment leasing, project consulting, project supervision, architectural design, mechanical and electrical installation, materials production and so on. CICO is a qualified contractor for overseas project with the management right for labor export service and import and export trade. CICO has 5 wholly-owned or holding subsidiaries and 12 branch companies in China. CICO has completed over 200 projects in China, and many of them have got “Luban Prize”, “National High Quality Project Prize”, “Chongqing Bayu Cup” and “Golden Cup of Chongqing Municipal Works”.
 
In recent years, CICO has actively expanded its overseas business, establishing 20 overseas branches and offices in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe, etc. It has contracted over 60 large and medium international construction projects in Asia and Africa, which were highly praised by the proprietors, supervisory companies, representatives of World Bank and embassies for the construction speed and excellent quality.
 
Challenges
 
Uganda is one of the world’s least developed countries reported by the United Nations. Its domestic transportation mainly depends on highway with weak infrastructure. Uganda’s domestic medical and health conditions are still relatively backward. It is a high incidence region of tropical diseases. Malaria is found in 95% of the country, with an HIV infection rate of 7.2%. In February 2015, the 86.4-KM project of Uganda, built by CICO Uganda Company, was officially launched. Communities along the project, with poor environmental conditions and limited hygiene conditions, also are backward economically and residents are hard to find jobs. How to get support from community residents to ensure the smooth progress of the project, and further enhance the corporate image in the process of project development is a problem that the company has to think about.
 
Solutions
 
CICO actively practices the corporate mission of “integrating management, innovation and social responsibility into first-class building products", and is committed to becoming a benchmarking enterprise in China's construction industry. While speeding up the construction process to ensure that projects are put into operation on schedule, the responsible team of 86.4-KM project gives full play to their professional advantages, taking measures to seek benefits for community development.
 
Building a camp for sustainable use
 
Due to the long construction period of the project, the existing buildings cannot meet the office use and living needs, and need to rebuild camps. In order to give full play to the continuous utilization value of the camp after the project and during the project, in the early days of camp construction, the project team fully communicates with the local government and community on site selection, construction area and other issues focusing on the construction of large-scale permanent brick houses, so as to confirm the camp construction plan. After the project is completed, permanent brick houses and supporting facilities will be donated to the community.
 
Carrying out community environmental improvement
 
In the early stages of the project, the main roads in the project area are narrow and bumpy, which cannot ensure the safe and efficient passing of large and medium trucks. And there is no drainage infrastructure in the area. A large amount of rainfall often leads to the local residents' houses be flooded, and rain and sediment siltation causes traffic jams. In order to improve the traffic conditions of the community and meet the needs of project construction, the project team repairs the main lanes of the community and solves the problem of drainage difficulties of the community roads for free.
 
Providing medical treatment services for residents
 
During the construction of the project, the project team established a temporary medical clinic to ensure the safety of the construction personnel.Temporary medical clinics also provide diagnostic and therapeutic services for the surrounding local residents and disseminate basic medical knowledge of common diseases and providing safer and more effective drugs to the local community. After the completion of the project, the medical infrastructure and common drugs are all donated to the local residents.
 
Absorbing local labor force
 
The project implementation also needs a large number of labor force as a support. The project team actively absorbs local community residents into the project construction. Upholding the principle that it is better to teach fish than fish, the project actively provides free skills training to local staff to enhance their capabilities.
 
Achievement
 
Social benefit
 
Improving the quality of life of in the community. The project team broadened and leveled the main roads in the area where the main camp is located, and the road conditions have met the safe passing of all types of vehicles. Traffic improvement meets the demand of transporting equipment and materials in the process of road construction, and also facilitates the travel of local residents and commodity circulation.
 
The construction of small single span bridges and roads along the project solves the problem of rainwater deposition in the town, further improving the living environment of local residents.
 
In the process of camp construction, four wells, a 250KW substation, five public toilets and various safety facilities provided by the project team will be donated to the community after the project is completed. Five permanent brick houses (about 1,000 square meters) can be used for schools, community offices or hospitals when the project is completed. At the same time, the donation of medical infrastructure and medicines for common diseases will alleviate the suffering of community residents to a certain extent, further improving the quality of life of local residents
 
Raising community residents' income. The project provides more than 700 jobs for local community residents, with a total salary of nearly 28 million yuan, effectively raising community residents' income. To increase the re-employment opportunities of local staff, the project team provides local staff with skills training on operation technology of road construction vehicle, road pavement construction technology and others. At present, a total of 39 small vehicle drivers, 90 heavy vehicle drivers, 60 heavy engineering equipment operators, 22 surveyors, 18 experimental technicians, 36 pavement construction technicians and 68 structural construction technicians have been trained.
 
Economic benefit
 
Shaping a responsible brand image. In the process of project implementation, the project team adheres to a responsible attitude to carry out community building along the project, winning the trust of the people in the community and providing a good external environment for the smooth progress of the project. At present, more and more enterprises are carrying out overseas construction projects under the background of "Going global". CICO actively participates in community building in the process of project implementation, which highlights the company's responsible brand image, wins a good reputation, and further enhances the image of Chinese enterprises overseas.
 
Reducing operating costs. The camp construction and the work and life of employees require a lot of office materials and living materials. Local purchasing of high-consuming articles stimulates the entrepreneurial enthusiasm of the residents along the project to start their own businesses, including opening small supermarkets and grocery stores in succession. The project team has purchased nearly 1.82 million yuan worth of materials locally. Local purchasing not only helps local economic development, but also prevents companies from purchasing materials from distant urban areas, which greatly reduces the company's time cost and economic cost.
 
Prospect
 
CICO will aim at creating a differentiated and internationalized organization, taking “integrating management and innovation into first class building products” as its mission, and insisting on management philosophy of "innovation first, responsibility first, internal and external development for brand building" . It will continue to contribute to the implementation of the "Going global" strategy and the continuous development of Chinese enterprises.