MEGA Engineering in the World by China

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China builds hydraulic engineering project in Nepal to help utilize local water resources
By Sun Wenyu (People's Daily Online) 09:50, December 13, 2017

A local worker workers in the tunnel.

Effectively utilizing local water resources has long been a dream for Nepalese and now Chinese construction workers are helping them realize it by building a spectacular hydraulic engineering project.

The Babai River located in the Bardiyā, Surkhet, is one of Nepal’s most important water resources, and hailed as “the river of life” by locals. However, the seasonal changes in stream discharge are a headache for local residents: draughts in dry seasons and floods in rainy seasons.

Bheri River is another river in the region with 10 times the flow of the Babai. Diverting water from Bheri to Babai in dry seasons has always been a dream for local residents.

According to an official with Nepal’s Ministry of Irrigation, the country is currently trying to solve the issue with an inter-basin water transfer project called the Bheri-Babai Diversion Multipurpose Project.

The project, contracted by China Overseas Engineering Group (COVEC), started in June 2015, with a total value of $107 million and a construction period of 58 months.

The official said that the project is designed to divert the water through a 12.2-kilometer tunnel at a velocity of 40 cubic meters per second. The diverted water will be used to irrigate about 51,000 hectares of farmland.

Thanks to the 152-meter difference in water levels between the two rivers, a 48 MW hydraulic power plant will also be constructed.

For the first time in Nepal’s history, a tunnel boring machine is being used to excavate the tunnel through fragile rocks. Normally, it would take three months to drill 500 meters, but the Chinese company shortened the period by one month.

The official from Irrigation Ministry told People’s Daily that such engineering equipment would enjoy a broad application in mountainous countries like Nepal.

The project director of the Nepalese side, surnamed Cerf, said that Nepal, as an agricultural country, is highly dependent on water resources.

The country will enjoy an extra income of $29 million from irrigation and $42 million from power generation annually upon the completion of the project, he added.

China-constructed multipurpose project achieves breakthrough in Nepal
Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 23:23:03|Editor: mingmei

Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli (C) attends the ceremony celebrating the breakthrough of the 12.2 km tunnel of Bheri Babai Diversion Multipurpose Project (BBDMP) in Surkhet district of Karnali Province in western Nepal, on April 16, 2019. Celebrating the breakthrough of a national project constructed by China, Nepali leaders and officials said here Tuesday that the project has supported the country's determination to realize its national dream "Prosperous Nepal and Happy Nepali." As the first of its kind of inter-basin water transfer project, the main part of Bheri Babai Diversion Multipurpose Project (BBDMP) has been completed almost one year earlier than its original duration. (Xinhua/Zhou Shengping)

SURKHET, Nepal, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Celebrating the breakthrough of a national project constructed by China, Nepali leaders and officials said here Tuesday that the project has supported the country's determination to realize its national dream "Prosperous Nepal and Happy Nepali."

As the first of its kind of inter-basin water transfer project, the main part of Bheri Babai Diversion Multipurpose Project (BBDMP) has been completed almost one year earlier than its original duration. The 12.2 km tunnel on the bank of Bheri River, which is famous for its resourceful water, is located in Surkhet district of Karnali Province in western Nepal.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said at a ceremony attended by Chinese ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi and U.S. ambassador Randy Berry that "Nepal is now ready to walk and work together with the international community towards the new direction of development."

Expressing gratitude to the Chinese contractor for the successful completion of the project despite of geographical challenges, Oli shared that Nepal welcomes the use of new technology in other multipurpose projects as well.

According to the Chinese ambassador, the success of the project is a result of international cooperation, characterized by the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) manufactured by America and the design and construction completed by Chinese contractor, China Overseas Engineering Group Co. Ltd.

Through a 12.2 Km long tunnel constructed by TBM technology, the first practice in one of the least developed countries, this 107 million U.S. dollar project will provide irrigation facility to 51,000 hectares of land in Banke and Bardiya districts.

Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Barsha Man Pun termed the use of this globally advanced technology as a historical revolution for the tunnel construction.

"The project has boosted the confidence of our government to expand this technology in other multipurpose projects for the speedy completion," Pun told around 2,000 participants, requesting the development partners to provide technical and financial assistance.

The irrigation-cum-hydroelectric project is one of the strategic projects of the country that is in dire need to ease the food crisis in the region by increasing agricultural yield.

Mahnedra Bahadur Shahi, Chief Minister of Karnali Province expressed that this province enriched with many natural resources, is hopeful to resolve both the food insecurity and poverty, alarming issues with the full completion of the multipurpose project which includes a 48 MW hydro power plant that is supposed to be built in the second phase.

Speakers of the program highly praised the Chinese contractor as the project, which was inaugurated in 2015, has been able to be done one year before the deadline.

Sanjeeb Baral, project director from Nepal side, said that the early success has opened a new dimension for other development projects despite of fragile geography.

According to the project's supervision contractor based in Italy, the dedication of the Chinese contractor, besides the TBM technology, is the major reason behind the successful story.

"It is the good attitude and willingness of the Chinese company, which made the project complete early," Arun Sharma, a Nepali engineering consultant serving the Italian company, told Xinhua on the spot.

 

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MARCH 8, 2019 / 2:31 PM / 4 DAYS AGO
China's Touchstone to invest $17 billion in Helsinki-Tallinn tunnel | Reuters
Tarmo Virki

HELSINKI (Reuters) - A train tunnel linking Helsinki with Estonia’s capital Tallinn has got a provisional 15 billion euros ($17 billion) in financing from China’s Touchstone Capital Partners, the latest infrastructure investment in Beijing’s Belt and Road plan.

FinEst Bay Area Development said on Friday it had signed a memorandum of understanding providing a third of the funding in private equity, which will give Touchstone a minority stake in the planned 100 km (60-mile) tunnel, and two-thirds in debt.

Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative seeks to link China by sea and land with southeast and central Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa, through a network along the lines of the old Silk Road as well as an Arctic route.

Finland and Estonia have for years considered linking their capitals, which are divided by the Gulf of Finland and the subsea tunnel would cut the travel time to around 20 minutes from the two-hour ferry ride used by tens of thousands of Estonians who commute weekly to the Helsinki area.

“The long term vision for Finland includes that we can get through the tunnel to Tallinn,” Finland’s Prime Minister Juha Sipila said this week during a visit to Estonia, which is a popular tourist destination for Finns.


FinEst Bay Area, which had earlier estimated the total cost of the tunnel at 15-20 billion euros, said financial details will be thrashed out with Touchstone over the next six months.

The firm raised the first external funding of 100 million euros from Dubai-based construction company ARJ Holding in December and is seeking European investors.

“Now, the financing is sorted and we can move ahead,” project leader Peter Vesterbacka, a former executive at the Angry Birds game maker Rovio, told Reuters.

A feasibility study commissioned by the governments of Finland and Estonia and published in 2017 said the planned tunnel could open in 2040 but Vesterbacka reiterated that it would be built by the end of 2024.

The project is yet to secure backing from the two governments and the European Union.

Earlier this week Estonia’s prime minister Juri Ratas stressed the need for security reviews of the project, along with the environmental studies which have already been started by the relevant authorities.

Reporting by Tarmo Virki; additional reporting by Johannes Hellstrom; Editing by Tom Brown and Alexander Smith

JULY 12, 2019 / 1:07 PM / A DAY AGO
Three Chinese companies to build Tallinn-Helsinki tunnel

TALLINN (Reuters) - A Chinese-funded Finnish company working on a Tallinn-Helsinki undersea tunnel project said on Friday it will work with three Chinese companies on the final design and building of the 100 kilometer (60-mile) tunnel, which forms part of Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative.

FinEst Bay Area Development said it signed a memorandum of understanding with China Railway International Group, China Railway Engineering Company, China Communications Construction Company, and financier Touchstone Capital Partners.

“The partner companies are the largest in the world in their own fields of expertise,” said Peter Vesterbacka, co-founder of Finest Bay Development company.

The new partners were needed as Finland and Estonia had limited resources in tunnel boring and high-speed train technologies, he said.

In March the project got a provisional 15 billion euros ($16.9 billion) from China’s Touchstone Capital Partners. Roughly 12.5 billion euros will go into construction.

Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative seeks to link China by sea and land with southeast and central Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa, through a network along the lines of the old Silk Road as well as through an Arctic route.

Finland and Estonia have for years considered linking their capitals, which are divided by the Gulf of Finland. The tunnel would cut the travel time to 20 minutes from the two-hour ferry ride, conducted by thousands of people daily.

A 2017-published feasibility study commissioned by the two governments said the planned tunnel could open in 2040 but the builders said it could be built by the end of 2024, with some parts opening already before.

The project is yet to secure backing from the two governments.

Reporting by Tarmo Virki; Editing by Alexandra Hudson


Three Chinese companies to build Tallinn-Helsinki tunnel - Reuters

 

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Chinese-built Algeria's expressway in mountainous terrain open to traffic
New China TV
Published on Jul 22, 2019

Part of the 53-kilometre project of the Algerian North-South Expressway, built by China's CSCEC, is open to traffic.

 

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Impressive

 

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Largest petrochemical contract signed between China and Russia
By Yu Xiaoming | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2019-10-14 13:13

China National Chemical Engineering Group Corporation signed an agreement worth around 12 billion euros ($13.25 billion) with Russia's RusGasDobycha on Oct 11, 2019. [Photo/cncec.cn]

China National Chemical Engineering Group Corporation has signed an agreement worth around 12 billion euros ($13.25 billion) with Russia's RusGasDobycha in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan province.

This project is the biggest ethylene integration project in the world, the biggest single contract in the global petrochemical field, as well as the biggest contract signed by Chinese enterprises so far, Dai Hegen, chairman of China National Chemical Engineering Group said when interviewed by China Central Television.

The contract includes construction of a natural gas processing chemical plant, which include two sets of ethylene cracking facilities with an annual capacity of 1.4 million tons; six sets of polyethylene facilities with an annual capacity of 480,000 tons; two sets of LAO facilities with an annual capacity of 137,000 tons; and an outside battery limiter (OSBL).

It is signed by China National Chemical Engineering No 7 Construction Co Ltd and Baltic Chemical Complex LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of RusGazDobycha, whose business covers the complete industry chain of natural gas, such as extraction, transportation and downstream processing.

The project is divided into three phases: infrastructure extension, early stage engineering, and project implementation. The contract period is 60 months.

Since the Belt and Road Initiative was introduced in 2013, China National Chemical Engineering Group has grasped opportunities to develop its globalization roadmap. The company currently has more than 320 projects under construction overseas, worth more than $58 billion.

These projects cover more than 60 countries and regions such as Russia, Indonesia, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt, the company said on its website.

 

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China-Brunei petrochemical joint venture fully starts operation
Nov 8, 2019
New China TV

A China-Brunei petrochemical joint venture has fully started operation in Brunei, which is the largest single Chinese-invested project in the country.

 

[JSCh]

Chinese-developed power plant in W. Indonesia succeeds in first synchronization
Nov 16, 2019
New China TV

First coal-fired power plant in Western Indonesia's Bengkulu Province, jointly developed by China and Indonesia, has conducted 1st synchronization successfully. When in operation, it will reverse current power shortage and boost local economy.

 

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China's Gezhouba, France's Veolia to Build World-Class Desalination Plant in UAE
LIAO SHUMIN
DATE : NOV 18 2019/SOURCE : YICAI

China's Gezhouba, France's Veolia to Build World-Class Desalination Plant in UAE​

(Yicai Global) Nov. 18 -- A subsidiary of China Gezhouba Group and a unit of Aubervilliers-headquartered Veolia Environnement will construct one of the world's top five desalination projects in the United Arab Emirates.

A joint venture between China Gezhouba Group International Engineering and Sidem penned a contract with ACWA Power regarding the project that will be located in Umm Al Quwain, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The plant will employ an advanced reverse osmosis technology, which uses 20 percent less electricity than traditional desalination methods. It aims to provide 682,000 tons of clean drinking water per day.

China Gezhouba expects to further cooperate with the Riyadh-headquartered power and desalination company regarding new energy and combined-cycle power stations, said Chen Xiaohua, the Wuhan-based civil engineering firm's chairman.

 

[JSCh]

Xinhua Headlines: China-built modern power plant puts BiH town on the map
Source: Xinhua| 2019-11-26 20:07:05|Editor: huaxia

The Stanari Thermal Power Plant was the first China-built power plant in Europe, whose opening led to the creation of jobs and a pouring of investment into the country's infrastructure. It is considered a signature project within the framework of the cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries as well as the Belt and Road Initiative.

by Zhang Xiuzhi, Zou Wei and Jili

SARAJEVO, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- The municipal flag of Stanari, a small town in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), has an unusual symbol on it: a chimney, representing the Stanari Thermal Power Plant (TPP) built by China.

It was the first China-built power plant in Europe, whose opening led to the creation of jobs and a pouring of investment into the country's infrastructure. The Stanari TPP is a source of pride in the local community, thanks to its use of green energy over polluting coal.

The power plant, built by China Dongfang Electric Corporation (DEC), first went into operation in August 2016. It has generated on-grid power of more than 7 billion kilowatt-hours since then, which has mainly been sold to European markets, including Croatia and Germany.

"It's one of the things that students learn in school," said Zorica Glisic-Samac, a teacher at the central school of Stanari. "When you say Stanari, first you think of the power plant. It's a big deal."

Photo taken on Oct. 23, 2019 shows the coal used for the Stanari Thermal Power Plant in Stanari, northern Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). (Photo by Nedim Grabovica/Xinhua)

GREEN CHANGE

Stanari, 150 km north of the country's capital Sarajevo, is rich in lignite, a low-quality type of coal. Lignite emits a lot of pollutants if burned in a conventional way, while its low value makes long-distance transport of it economically unviable.

Frustrated by strict European environmental regulations, the widely available coal reserves and mining industry in the Balkan region were trapped in technological and financial difficulties, while local development was stemmed by power deficits.

A solution given by DEC, a Sichuan-based company specializing in power-generation equipment, brought BiH hope.

In 2016, Stanari adopted an energy-saving and emission-reducing technology DEC had independently developed.

The production here is efficient, said Aleksandar Milic, technical director of the plant, adding that in controlling emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and dust, it meets or even exceeds European Union standards.

Aleksandar Milic, technical director of Stanari Thermal Power Plant, is interviewed by Xinhua in Stanari, northern Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Oct. 23, 2019. (Photo by Nedim Grabovica/Xinhua)

In fact, the technology is so efficient that local residents didn't at first realize the local plant was generating power, since no smoke or loud noises are produced by it.

In the control room at the heart of the plant, tens of thousands of signals are constantly monitored, including real-time emission data sent to an external environment watchdog.

"The Chinese helped us build one of the best power plants in Europe," said Milic.

The power plant has put Stanari on the map. The operation here has attracted peer companies from more than 30 countries to visit, according to Hu Yang, DEC's operation and maintenance manager for the Stanari project.

For the European market, where regulations are among the strictest in the world, "we are showcasing ... Chinese companies' capabilities in project design, construction, operation and maintenance at an arena of the highest level," Hu said, referring to the fact that as many as 200 Chinese suppliers contributed to the project.

Photo taken on Oct. 23, 2019 shows the Stanari Thermal Power Plant in Stanari, northern Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). (Photo by Nedim Grabovica/Xinhua)

PROSPERITY PATH

Stanari used to have a population of just 2,000. Young people would leave for better jobs in nearby cities or even other countries.

A great many changes have taken place since the power plant broke ground in 2013. Stanari now has a population of about 5,000, of which some 850 work for the power plant and the adjacent coal mine.

Boro Krsic, an electrician, said he takes pride in his job at the plant because it offers a better salary and working conditions than his previous one. Thanks to his job, he is now able to renovate his house and travel more. His 23-year-old son also works at the company.

According to Dusan Panic, mayor of Stanari municipality, over the past four years, 20 million convertible marks (11.3 million U.S. dollars) have been spent on the municipality's infrastructure alone -- and all of the investment came from the power plant.

Dusan Panic, mayor of Stanari municipality, is interviewed by Xinhua in Stanari, northern Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Oct. 24, 2019. (Photo by Nedim Grabovica/Xinhua)

"It has benefited everyone. Without the power plant, Stanari would still be a village," Panic said, adding that the average monthly salary in Stanari city -- around 719 dollars -- is now way higher than the national average of 528 dollars.

Glisic-Samac, a school teacher, said she was impressed by how the power plant is helping the local community, especially its school.

She said that a kindergarten and a conference room are soon to be added to the current school building. Students are also looking forward to a field trip sponsored by the power plant, she added.

"I think young people here have a really good opportunity for a good life," Glisic-Samac said.

Photo taken on Oct. 23, 2019 shows the Stanari Thermal Power Plant in Stanari, northern Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). (Photo by Nedim Grabovica/Xinhua)

SIGNATURE PROJECTS

The Stanari TPP is considered a signature project within the framework of the cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries as well as the Belt and Road Initiative.

Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of the tripartite presidency of BiH, said in an interview with Xinhua in September that he believed cooperation with China is in the interests of Balkan countries.

Chinese enterprises have provided good opportunities for the development of infrastructure, energy and communication in Balkan countries, Dodik said.

Not far from Stanari, in the city of Doboj, a hospital will be built by China Sinopharm International Corporation and equipped with modern facilities.

Staff members work at a control center of the Stanari Thermal Power Plant in Stanari, northern Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Oct. 23, 2019. (Photo by Nedim Grabovica/Xinhua)

In the neighboring Serbia, the steel plant in Smederevo, invested in by China's HBIS group, is "on the track to become the most competitive steel mill in Europe," according to the Central European Financial Observer, a Poland-based economic news platform.

In Montenegro, the Mozura Wind Park with its 23 smart turbines, jointly built by China and Malta, was inaugurated last week.

Apart from infrastructure projects, there are also "unimaginable opportunities for (the) development of cooperation in the field of tourism," according to Faruk Boric, a political commentator from BiH, who urged his compatriots to drop the mentality of geopolitical power struggles to embrace mutual cooperation.

Hu Yang said that respecting local practices, complying with local laws and regulations, and recruiting local talents jointly led to his company's successful running of the Stanari TPP project.

(Video reporters: Ji Li, Zhang Xiuzhi, Zuo Wei; Video editor: Jia Xiaotong)

 

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Chinese companies to build Brazil's second-longest bridge
Source: Xinhua| 2019-12-14 16:45:59|Editor: ZX

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- A consortium of state-owned Chinese companies on Friday was awarded the contract to build and operate what will be the second-longest bridge in Brazil.

Under the project, a bridge will be built spanning the famed Bay of All Saints, which connects Salvador, capital of the northeastern Bahia state, with Itaparica Island. The project also involves the construction of related roads.

The Chinese consortium, comprising China Railway 20 Bureau Group Corporation (CR20) and China Communications Construction Company Ltd (CCCC), was awarded the contract following a bid held in Sao Paulo.

Bahia governor Rui Costa hailed the project and the result of the bidding held in Sao Paulo, saying via Instagram that "in partnership with the Chinese consortium, we will carry out the biggest infrastructure project in Brazil in recent years."

The bridge, with an investment of 2.2 billion U.S. dollars and a 35-year franchise, is set to boost the development in the south of Bahia, as it cuts the distance between Salvador and Itaparica Island from 452 km to 309 km.

When completed, the 12.4-km-long bridge, measuring 400 meters across and with a central elevation of 85 meters to allow ships to cross underneath, will be Brazil's second longest, after the Rio-Niteroi bridge.

 

[JSCh]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1158175690539192320

Installed in Nigeria on 17th Dec.

 

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Chinese contractor completes key section of mega cross-sea bridge in Brunei
Jan 4, 2020
New China TV

A Chinese company has completed a key section of a mega sea-crossing in Brunei that links the capital Bandar Seri Begawan and Temburong district

 

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The Chinese are the world's greatest engineers.

 

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For China, a Bridge Over the Adriatic Is a Road Into Europe - The New York Times

A major new bridge will link a disconnected sliver of the Croatian coast with the rest of the country. There is an overland route now that runs through Bosnia.Credit: Zoran Marinovic for The New York Times

By Marc Santora and Barbara Surk
Oct. 11, 2018

KOMARNA, Croatia — As a quirk of history and the Balkan wars, a corner of Croatia is cut off from the rest of the country by a 12-mile interruption of land belonging to neighboring Bosnia. It is a rift that Croatia has long wanted to repair with a bridge that would unite the disconnected sliver of its coast with the rest of the country.

For decades — foiled by war, corruption, political bickering and global financial turmoil — work never got much further on the bridge than abandoned concrete pylons and two bronze angels overlooking the glittering waters of the Adriatic Sea.

That is, until the Chinese arrived this summer.

With drills churning and its engineers arriving daily, a state-owned Chinese construction firm, the China Road and Bridge Corporation, is the latest company to take on the project.

For many Croatians, just the possibility that the long-awaited bridge project is now on track to be completed is reason for celebration.

But the project is also a test case for the European Union, which has been wary of allowing state-owned Chinese firms into the market for big European infrastructure projects, fearing that Chinese companies can undermine competition, trample the bloc’s labor laws and depress wages.

The bridge, which will span the water separating a peninsula in the disconnected region with the village of Komarna and the rest of Croatia, is the first time that a project funded largely with European Union money has been won by a Chinese firm.

China Road and Bridge won the contract with a proposal that undercut the nearest competitor by nearly $100 million, leading to a legal challenge. The European Commission is also investigating whether Croatia awarded the contract in line with European Union rules.

On top of the concerns officials have over competitive practices and lower wages, many of the jobs that come with the project may not even go to workers in the slow-growing economies of Europe.

Typically, Chinese state firms bring most of their own workers for construction projects, an often contentious practice. It is not clear if Croatian authorities even know how much the Chinese workers will be paid. China Road and Bridge did not respond to queries, and the Croatian authorities said they did not want to officially comment.

“European companies are increasingly finding themselves in the situation that they cannot compete with Chinese-subsidized companies on price levels,” said Jens Bastian, an economic analyst who has detailed Chinese investments and loans in the Balkans in a report for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

China is in the midst of a global infrastructure spending spree known as the Belt and Road Initiative, which is intended to increase Beijing’s economic and diplomatic clout — but which is bringing rising criticism and scrutiny. China is actively cultivating leaders in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, an overture that some in the European Union regard as a veiled effort to undermine the bloc.

In a 2016 report, the European Union Institute for Security Studies concluded that the bloc may “have to acknowledge its limited leverage when it comes to influencing Chinese corporate behavior.”

Chinese workers at the beach in Komarna, Croatia. There is uncertainty about how many workers will come from China, how much they will be paid, and how many locals will get jobs.Credit: Zoran Marinovic for The New York Times

Yet for Croatia, which joined the European Union in 2013, the project has become a neat and relatively cheap fix for a once insolvable problem in a Balkans region where bridges have long played outsize roles in politics and diplomacy.

When rulers sought to unite the region’s ethnic and religious groups, bridges were built across rivers and over valley passes. When leaders wanted to divide people along ethnic lines, those same bridges were often fought over or destroyed to keep communities apart.

The gap in Croatia’s territory occurred after the socialist Yugoslavia dissolved and frontiers between its former republics became international borders. The Neum corridor, the strip of Bosnia’s coastline that cuts Croatia in two, is Bosnia’s only access to the Adriatic Sea.

As things stand, people traveling from Croatia’s southern coast must endure four border checkpoints to reach the rest of the country, which can mean delays of hours that disrupt one of the nation’s chief economic drivers, tourism.

In June 2017, the European Union announced an allocation of 357 million euros, or $413 million — about 85 percent of the bridge’s cost — with a touch of fanfare.

“This project genuinely embodies our commitment to removing barriers, uniting territories and bringing people together,” Corina Cretu, the union’s commissioner for regional policy, said at the time.

Yet six months later, the situation became more complicated when Croatia awarded the project to China Road and Bridge. Rivals were furious. A Croatian court later dismissed a complaint from a losing bidder, the Austrian firm Strabag, which accused the Chinese consortium of charging a price that was lower than the actual value of the project.

On a recent afternoon at the construction site, Jeroslav Segedin, a civil engineer, gave a tour of the early stages of the project. Mr. Segedin, a representative of Croatia Roads, which contracted with the Chinese company for the project, stressed the importance of the bridge, despite the concerns about Beijing’s involvement.

“It means a lot to both Croatia and this region,” he said. “It will be a national symbol for Croatia.”

Mr. Segedin, whose team of civil engineers will oversee the project, said construction should reach its peak in about 18 months, when there are expected to be 490 workers on the bridge, most of them Chinese living in trailers on the sparsely populated peninsula. Croatian workers will take part in the construction, but only on a small scale.

European Union officials say they will be watching China’s recruitment process for workers closely, once it gets underway, for possible violations of the bloc’s labor laws. Even so, the Chinese have already been allowed to set the wages for the workers they bring to the site — something that European companies fear is an unfair advantage.

The uncertainty around how many Chinese workers will be employed at the site, and what they will be paid, has spawned rumors.

Jeroslav Segedin, whose team of civil engineers will oversee the project, said the bridge “will be a national symbol for Croatia.”Credit: Zoran Marinovic for The New York Times

For months, the Croatian news media has been reporting that thousands of Chinese workers would be living on a cruise ship converted to a dormitory, overwhelming the small fishing village of Komarna where the construction site is based.

“It’s incredible, the calls I’ve been getting regarding the Chinese workers in our region,” said Smiljan Mustapic, the governor of the Slivno area where the bridge is being built. “It’s like a group of aliens has landed.”

For now, the bridge construction is focused under water and requires only a few dozen Chinese engineers.

Beyond the bridge project, China is seeking closer ties to Croatia in other ways, such as an agreement on joint police patrols — as was done in the heart of the old city of Dubrovnik this summer at the peak of tourism season.

The ostensible reason for the joint patrols was to help resolve issues related to Chinese tourists. But it also served as a dry run for Croatia’s plans to host a meeting of the Chinese-led investment initiative, known as 16+1, in Dubrovnik next year. It includes 11 European Union members in Central and Eastern Europe along with five Balkan nations.

Mato Frankovic, the mayor of Dubrovnik, which is in the cutoff corner of Croatia, said that unlike other Chinese projects in other Balkan nations, the bridge is not financed by debt and loans from Chinese banks, which would have saddled Croatia. “It is a win-win,” he said.

Mr. Mustapic, the governor of the area where the bridge is being built, said, “For us, the construction of this bridge is priceless.”

He could not help but be overcome, he said, as he saw the lights on the water that marked the start of the work on the bridge’s foundation.

“It meant that this time, it is going to happen,” he said.

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