In Cambodia, there is a new Phnom Penh International Airport under construction. As the world's highest-level 4F-level airport, it will effectively relieve the pressure on Cambodia's airport operations and further attract international tourists after its completion. In the future, it will become a world hub under the new development opportunities of Cambodia. At present, the construction of the new Phnom Penh International Airport project is in full swing and advancing in an orderly manner, and it will soon appear in the world with a soaring momentum, becoming another benchmark project on the joint construction of the Belt and Road.

New World Hub

Everyone is no stranger to the airport, it is an important facility for our travel. In fact, the airport is an economic engine for the development of a city. According to research data, an aviation project will bring obvious benefits to the local area after 10 years of development. Among them, the output ratio is 180%, the technology transfer ratio is 116%, and the employment-driven ratio is 112%. The protagonist of our story today, the new Phnom Penh International Airport in Cambodia, will use international design standards to create a new national gate that showcases Cambodia’s national image and become a new engine that stimulates the rapid development of the local economy.

Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city of the Kingdom of Cambodia, as well as the center of politics, economy, culture, transportation and trade. In recent years, due to the rapid development of tourism, the original airport has been overloaded and cannot meet the demand for future flight growth. In January 2020, the new Phnom Penh International Airport project undertaken by China Construction Third Engineering Bureau officially started, and the construction is currently in full swing.

Recently, in an exclusive interview, Xiang Haifeng, Cambodian director of the First Company of China Construction Third Engineering Bureau, introduced the latest progress of the project.

Xiang Haifeng: The structure of Phnom Penh Airport has been completed at present. Now it is mainly the construction of roof, curtain wall and electromechanical equipment. After the construction of roof and curtain wall is completed, the decoration work will be carried out in an all-round way. This airport is 250,000 square meters, and its construction cost is 4.2 billion RMB. After it is completed, it can be confirmed as a transportation hub in Southeast Asia, comparable to Singapore's Changi Airport, Thailand's Suvarnabhumi Airport, and Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur Airport.

The new Phnom Penh International Airport is a project witnessed by the friendship between China and Cambodia. As the world's highest-level 4F-level airport, it will become the ninth largest airport in the world after completion. It can take off and land large aircraft. It can accommodate up to 27 million passengers by 2030 and 30 million passengers by 2050, helping Cambodia A world hub for new development opportunities.

Xiang Haifeng: After completion, it can effectively alleviate the operating capacity of Cambodian airports and play a great role in attracting international tourists. It will help Cambodia become a hub of the world under the new development opportunity, and improve Cambodia's national awareness and image.

The new airport, which covers an area of 2,600 hectares, will effectively relieve the pressure on Cambodia's airport operations after completion, and will bring positive impacts in many aspects, including attracting more foreign direct investment, promoting exports, and strengthening cultural exchanges. Of course, the most important thing is to improve the passenger experience.

Xiang Haifeng: The design of the new airport optimizes the experience of passengers and provides more choices of routes. Passengers can wait for the flight in a more comfortable environment, thereby improving passenger satisfaction and attracting more tourists to Cambodia. And business travel, can create a large number of employment opportunities and business opportunities. There are international hotels, catering services, hostels, and duty-free shops in the airport, which will attract more international tourists and business people, increase the demand for local retail and manufacturing industries, and promote economic development.

Chinese technology is guaranteed to be as stable as Mount Tai

A large-scale international airport not only speeds up the speed and efficiency of trade, but also promotes local employment and economic growth, and also promotes the development of surrounding areas, such as the development of hotels, catering, logistics and other industries. To build this airport of great significance to Cambodia, high-quality and efficient contract performance is the foundation.

Xiang Haifeng, Project Director of the New Phnom Penh International Airport of China Construction Third Bureau, said that the airport structure is designed to last for 100 years. , Real-time detection, the whole process of large-volume concrete construction and concrete solidification can be traced to ensure that the project is as stable as Mount Tai.

Xiang Haifeng: In this Chinese technology and plan, the volume is relatively large, and the structural design is 100 years old. We also put a lot of effort into mass concrete and temperature control; the other is the large-area grid structure, which is currently relatively difficult to construct in South Asia, even including China. During the epidemic, we also transferred a large number of Chinese technicians and some Vietnamese technicians to complete the construction of this part of the grid.

The terminal building of the new Phnom Penh International Airport has a total construction area of 250,000 square meters. It is the first time in Cambodia to use a large-span shell structure, with a roof arched truss spanning 36 meters. Before the assembly of steel structures, Chinese builders used BIM, 3D and other technologies to simulate the on-site installation environment, and by optimizing the assembly and installation methods of steel components, the construction time was greatly shortened. Of course, there were many difficulties in the construction process. Talking about this issue, Xiang Haifeng was very emotional.

Xiang Haifeng: The biggest difficulty is actually the once-in-a-century epidemic. The construction of the main structure of our airport is basically covered by the three-year epidemic. Bulk materials have skyrocketed, the exchange rate of the US dollar has plummeted, sea freight has doubled, and the company is facing a shortage of materials and labor, which has a greater impact on the project. Therefore, in the whole process, we also overcame many difficulties and successfully completed the construction of the main structure.

Xiang Haifeng said that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had inspected the project twice, saying that most of the projects had been stopped during the epidemic, but the Chinese company was still progressing smoothly, and the construction speed was relatively fast, expressing that there was no wrong choice!

Combining Art and Construction

In fact, apart from the impact of the epidemic, Chinese builders also overcame many difficulties during the entire construction process, such as the collision between Chinese technology and international standards. During the design stage of the new Phnom Penh International Airport, European Design Company made a bold innovation, which is to use bamboo to build the roof of the airport. This design, which the designers are quite proud of, has not actually been verified for construction feasibility. As a result, there was a huge discrepancy between European design standards and Chinese construction schemes.

Xiang Haifeng said that as the construction party of the project, they have done a lot of technical coordination work, and promoted the construction in the process of continuous optimization and suggestions.

Xiang Haifeng: We are moving forward with continuous optimization suggestions. There is actually quite a big difference between European design standards and Chinese construction schemes. For example, the construction of the roof is made of bamboo, that is, the entire roof is made of bamboo. When viewed from different angles, the bottom cannot be seen through, that is, the brackets on the roof cannot be seen. Can you imagine this? It is a thing made of bamboo, through the change of the curved surface, so that passengers cannot see through it from any angle, and then there is a three-dimensional sense of unevenness. This is possible on a small craft, but almost impossible in such a large industrial building.

At that time, he borrowed a suggestion from a model company, and later we invited this model company to make it for us on site. The company also said, oh, we haven’t done it, and we don’t know if it can be realized. We think it can accomplish. But in this process, we did discuss a lot, and discussed with many manufacturers for a long time. When we feel that it can’t be realized after the demonstration, we start to trace the source and find the plan designer to let him realize it. When he can’t realize it, we gradually replace the plan.

In the eyes of designers, artistic design often does not have a mature architectural plan. It requires the construction unit to complete it creatively, such as how to absorb water, how to prevent dust, what to do when encountering roof truss displacement, and so on. In this process of constant change, Chinese builders have done a lot of technical coordination work, and the designer has gradually realized that the original plan cannot be implemented, and finally adopted Chinese standards and Chinese plans.

There are many other examples like this. For example, when the construction drawings of the new airport were drawn, the Chinese flat method was also adopted. Some materials and specifications were drawn according to Chinese standards, which effectively accelerated the construction progress while reducing costs and increasing efficiency.

build a bridge of friendship

Of course, the new Phnom Penh International Airport is not only a project, but also a bridge to draw in the friendship between the Chinese and Cambodian peoples. Xiang Haifeng, Project Director of the New Phnom Penh International Airport of China Construction Third Bureau, said that the project department attaches great importance to the integrated management of Chinese and foreign personnel, and has also made innovations in cultivating local technical and management talents.

Xiang Haifeng: We also pay more attention to cultural construction here. For example, on special Chinese festivals, such as the Mid-Autumn Festival, we will make mooncakes with everyone; in Cambodian-style activities, they have clay pots and water splashing Festival, we will let them lead, the company will support, and Chinese employees will also participate. Better understand each other's culture and increase mutual closeness.

Before the epidemic, we have been organizing a trip to China for local employees, and we will take him to visit our corporate headquarters and take the high-speed rail to visit projects in other provinces and cities, feel the development of China, and feel the status of the company in the field of construction. , they also have more pride. We have to organize it every year, like this year we may have to organize it soon, because now that the epidemic has been lifted, let them be proud to compete for this honor every year. Many of them are also going to China for the first time, and they are very yearning.

People-to-people bonds have always been an important part of the Belt and Road Initiative, and it also provides an indispensable social and humanistic foundation for the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative.

A few days before being interviewed by the reporter, Xiang Haifeng had been busy with the opening ceremony of the Luban Construction Workshop. This workshop uses the project as the carrier to provide technical training for local Cambodian workers. Outstanding graduates can enter the Cambodian project of China Construction Third Engineering Bureau. Xiang Haifeng said that he hopes to take this opportunity to train more excellent construction management talents for the Cambodian government, so as to give back to the Cambodian society.

The Belt and Road Initiative Contains Huge Fusion Power

In the process of working on the new Phnom Penh International Airport project, Xiang Haifeng deeply felt the huge integration power contained in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Xiang Haifeng: The development of the Belt and Road Initiative is beneficial for China to go out and promote development with people from all over the world. The Belt and Road Initiative is still very popular in Cambodia. Prime Minister Hun Sen has a classic saying, 'If we don't rely on China, who else can we rely on? China has brought us a lot of support, and Chinese construction companies have built this large-scale project for us. Can you other countries help us if we don't depend on them? ’ That is to say, both the government and the public are very welcome.

Another one is that the Belt and Road Initiative is also very important for our Chinese enterprises to go global. With the support of this kind of national policy and syndicated banks, we may get more support when we go forward, so as to prevent us from working hard as a single enterprise, and actually feel that we are weak.

Of course, in the process of walking, we have also accumulated more experience in international engineering construction, which will also feed back the shortcomings of domestic knowledge and management awareness, so that enterprises can develop better in China.

In the project of the new Phnom Penh International Airport in Cambodia, also known as the Drexel International Airport, the significance of the cooperation between China and Cambodia has gone far beyond the commercial scope, and it has become a vivid portrayal of the China-Cambodia community with a shared future entering a new era.Editor/Ma Xue