China Harbour Engineering Company

China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC) is an engineering contractor and a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), providing infrastructure construction, such as marine engineering, dredging and reclamation, road and bridge, railways, airports and plant construction.^[1] It is the second largest dredging company in the world, carrying out projects in Asia, Africa, and Europe.^[2]

China Harbour Engineering Co Ltd

Native name	中国港湾工程有限责任公司 (Chinese)
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Civil engineering
Founded	2005
Headquarters	Beijing, China
Parent	China Communications Construction Company
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	中国港湾工程有限责任公司
Traditional Chinese	中國港灣工程有限責任公司
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhōngguó Gǎngwān Gōngchéng Yǒuxiàn Zérèn Gōngsī
Website	www.chec.bj.cn

History

The company was established in December 2005 during the merger of China Harbour Engineering Company Group (founded 1980) with China Road and Bridge Corporation into CCCC.^[3]

In 2018, Sri Lankan State Minister of Finance and Mass Media Eran Wickramaratne called for an investigation into CHEC following reports that it had funded the campaign of Mahinda Rajapaksa during the 2015 Sri Lankan presidential election.^[4] CHEC denied funding the election campaign.^[5]

The company was debarred by the World Bank for bribery in Bangladesh.^[6][7][8][9]

Projects

CHEC has won large contracts for dredging, particularly in the Middle East and Asia. In January 2011, the company was awarded a US$880 million contract for the first phase of the New Doha port project, which involved the excavation of 58 million cubic metres of material (covering an area of 3.2 square kilometres to a depth of 18 metres) and the building of an 8-kilometre-long quay wall and a 5 km rubble breakwater.^[10]

Sri Lanka

China Harbour began working on projects in Sri Lanka in the late 1990s, initially as a subcontractor for other companies.^[11]: 94 When the Sri Lankan government in 2007 sought loans from China to develop Hambantota International Port, China Harbour lobbied to hired for the project.^[11]: 94 During the negotiations for loans, the Chinese government recommended China Harbour, Sri Lanka and the lender Export-Import Bank of China accepted, and China Harbour became the main contractor for the project.^{[12][11]: 94}

China Harbour's business in Sri Lanka grew rapidly from 2008 to 2010.^[11]: 94 After the completion of Phase I of the Hambantota Port project, China Harbour became a leading infrastructure contractor in Sri Lanka.^[11]: 94

Costa Rica

• Widening from two lanes, one in each direction, to four lanes, two in each direction on Route 32 between Guápiles and Puerto Limón. Project started in 2018, estimated delivery on 2020.^[13]

Colombia

The Bogota Metro announced on October 17, 2019, that Apca Transmimetro, comprising CHEC and Xi’An Metro Company, has been chosen for a $US 5.16bn contract to design, build, operate and maintain Line 1 of the Bogota metro.^[14]

See also

• Belt and Road Initiative
• Foreign policy of China

References

1. "China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd". Archived from the original on 2010-05-16. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
2. "The world's biggest dredging companies". Reuters. 2010-03-29. Archived from the original on 2022-01-13. Retrieved 2021-07-05.
3. "Nigeria: Lekki Port Signs EPC Contract with CHEC". Offshore Energy. 2012-05-18. Archived from the original on 2020-07-27. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
4. "NYT report: Outcry to reveal probe on CHEC funding Rajapaksa campaign". Sunday Observer. July 1, 2018. Two media reports on alleging that CHEC had funded the Rajapaksa campaign ahead of the January 2015 election appeared in local newspapers in July 2015 and May 2016, citing the investigating agencies as the CID and the FCID.
5. "CHEC responds to allegations of funding Rajapaksa's elections campaign". Archived from the original on 2022-01-23. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
6. "Bangladesh blacklists China Harbor Engineering Co. for bribery: Report | Daily FT". www.ft.lk. Archived from the original on 2021-05-02. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
7. "No job for China Harbour in future". The Daily Star. 2018-01-17. Archived from the original on 2021-04-10. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
8. Chaudhury, Dipanjan Roy (18 January 2018). "Sheikh Hasina: China, Bangladesh road project hits bribe bump; may slow down Beijing's connectivity plans - The Economic Times". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 2022-01-13. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
9. Dizon, Nikko (26 October 2016). "Chinese company banned by World Bank bags PH infrastructure project". Archived from the original on 2020-11-12. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
10. "Contractors submit bids for Doha port dredging work". Middle East Economic Digest. November 11, 2011.
11. Chen, Muyang (2024). The Latecomer's Rise: Policy Banks and the Globalization of China's Development Finance. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press. ISBN 9781501775857.
12. Abi-Habib, Maria (2018-06-25). "How China Got Sri Lanka to Cough Up a Port". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2018-10-16. Retrieved 2022-02-23. The first major loan it took on the project came from the Chinese government's Export-Import Bank, or Exim, for $307 million. But to obtain the loan, Sri Lanka was required to accept Beijing's preferred company, China Harbor, as the port's builder, according to a United States Embassy cable from the time, leaked to WikiLeaks.
13. Recio, Patricia (21 September 2019). "MOPT encara a constructora china por desórdenes en proyecto de ampliación de la ruta 32". Archived from the original on 21 September 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
14. Briginshaw, David (October 21, 2019). "Chinese consortium selected for Bogota metro contract". railjournal.com. Archived from the original on 18 August 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2021.

External links

• Official website