BRI projects aid recovery in Europe amid COVID-19

BELGRADE－The global economy is longing for a quick recovery after a huge blow from the COVID-19 pandemic. Central and Eastern European countries are seeing contributions from Chinese investment projects under the Belt and Road Initiative.

From the Mediterranean Sea to the Baltic Sea, BRI projects are gradually getting back on track despite challenges related to worldwide travel restrictions and production stoppages.

China's Norinco provided equipment for construction of Senj Wind Farm. The supplies arrived during the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in Europe after being stranded in Croatia's Zadar Port for three months.

Thanks to the collaboration and hard work between Chinese and Croatian employees, 50 percent of the contract value has so far been completed, Liu Zhen, general manager of Norinco's Zagreb branch, told Xinhua.

By the end of this year, 13 wind turbines on the farm will be ready for power generation and 39 will be up and running by April.

At Montenegro's Mozura, wind turbines built by Shanghai Electric Power Co have started spinning along a new highway that stretches toward the border with Serbia.

Peljesac Bridge, a 2.4-kilometer structure built by China Road and Bridge Corp that will connect the Croatian mainland with the Peljesac Peninsula, is expected to be finished next year. It is an iconic infrastructure project funded by the European Union.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has inevitably delayed our project as production of steel box girders was halted, while international travel restrictions left us understaffed," said Lu Shengwei, a representative of CRBC in Croatia.

To get back on schedule, the company even arranged a direct charter flight for its welders, Lu told Xinhua News Agency.

As the production of the steel box girders resumed in China after the outbreak came under better control, the project began to get back on track.

Once completed, the Belgrade-South Adriatic Highway built by CRBC, also called E763, will greatly facilitate movement of passengers and goods between the Balkans and the hinterlands of Europe.

Since the beginning of the pandemic in Europe in early spring, Chinese companies have been trying their best to minimize the damage to their businesses and implement their projects.

China's COSCO Shipping-operated Piraeus Port in Greece, Europe's fourth-largest port, marked an increase of 17.8 percent in container terminal revenue while ship repair revenue rose by 21.8 percent year-on-year in the first half.

In this way, the company managed to counterbalance the drastic fall in revenue from cruise ships and coastal shipping, and marked just a 5.8 percent decrease in overall turnover during the period.

Greek newspaper Kathimerini said in August that the volume of container handling dropped by just 3 percent, much lower than the 10 percent fall seen in the US and many European ports, and that Piraeus Port is "weathering the coronavirus pandemic quite well, for the time being".

In southeast Poland, Fabryka Lozysk Tocznych-Krasnik, a ball bearing manufacturer acquired by China's Tri-Ring Group, is finding ways to keep producing about 1,500 types of bearings.

"The COVID-19 crisis first paralyzed our logistics and sales, but this has been overcome as European countries lifted transportation lockdowns," said Grzegorz Jasinski, president of FLT-Krasnik.

"The company saw a tremendous bounce-back in sales, even a noticeable increase in the third quarter compared to 2019," Jasinski said.

Despite temporary losses and difficult operations, the company's 1,650 employees remained on the job.

Spasenija, 93, lives with her 66-year-old daughter Milijana near the Ulog hydropower plant, which is being constructed by China's Sinohydro in Kalinovik, some 90 km south of Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

For decades their only income was Spasenija's pension until the Chinese company arrived and decided to rent their land for three years. Spasenija also got a steady income by providing potatoes and vegetables to Sinohydro.

The project has brought many jobs to locals who traditionally make a living from agriculture, forestry and fishing, and it has boosted trade and services in the area as well.

"The Chinese people working on this project have not only helped me financially, but also assured me they are true friends. They helped me excavate the trench and prepare wood for winter with their machines," she told Xinhua.

Back in Greece, Manos Tsakiltzis, a 54-year-old bus driver, recalled how he had lost his job when the virus struck the tourism industry earlier this year.

"The lockdown and the late start of the summer season with just a small percentage of arrivals compared to past years turned everything upside down in my life, my family's life," he said.

Things changed for the better after he was hired as a short-term truck driver at Piraeus Port.

Tsakiltzis said the protective measures implemented by the port were excellent and it is "a great pleasure" to work with his Chinese colleagues.

"I really appreciate it," Tsakiltzis said, referring to the new job opportunity, adding that it has helped him and his family make a living.

Other BRI projects across the region are benefiting the local community in similar ways while trying to stay on track with development schedules.

Xinhua