Only China can build a China-Sudan Friendship Bridge for $20 million
The Nile is the largest river in Africa. The China-Sudan Friendship Bridge is the first bridge in Sudan to connect the western to the eastern part of the country. China charged a token $20 million for the bridge and $10 million was donated by CNPC.
Hence, the total cost to Sudan was $10 million for the China-Sudan Friendship Bridge that crosses the Nile. A similar bridge to cross the Mississippi River in the United States costs about a billion dollars.
In conclusion, only a Chinese construction company can build a billion-dollar bridge for $10 million to the host country at Chinese Friendship prices.
New Mississippi River Bridge | Wikipedia
"The New Mississippi River Bridge is a bridge under construction across the ... of the bridge and surrounding area was estimated at nearly $1.6 billion. After both state governments decided that they could not bear the cost, a new ... But one month later, the Missouri Senate Transportation Committee rejected the change."
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China-Sudan Friendship Bridge spans over Nile River
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (R) meets with Sudanese President Omer al- Bashir in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Nov. 7, 2009. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)
"Sudanese-Chinese Friendship Bridge opened on January 17 2008 in Merowe, where the dam will be built."
Sudanese-Chinese friendship bridge spans over Nile River
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Sudanese-Chinese friendship bridge spans over Nile River
Like many Africans, Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir tends to express his happiness and excitement with dance. Yet as Sudan's president, he is seldom seen dancing in public.
On Thursday morning, a smiling and relaxed al-Bashir was dancing with a crowd of his fellow countrymen, who were celebrating the completion of the Bridge of the Chinese-Sudanese Friendship in this Nile riverside town of Merowe, about 350 km north of the Sudanese capital Khartoum.
"This is an important achievement," al-Bashir told the inauguration ceremony of the 440-meter bridge, which is the only one spanning over the world's longest river in the section between Khartoum and the Sudanese-Egyptian border.
"With China's help, with the endeavor of the Sudanese people, Sudan will certainly score glorious achievements one after another along our path of construction and development," the president added.
Al-Bashir's statements won loud and lasting applause from tens of thousands of local people, who were gathering from nearby towns and villages at both sides of the Nile River to attend the ceremony.
Locals took on white or brightly colorful dresses, which they often use at various festivals,
to celebrate the occasion, which marks a historic end to the painful inconvenience of no bridge for nearby areas.
With infectious smiles in the face, some were singing and dancing, some were beating drums, and others were playing traditional musical instruments.
Chinese Ambassador in Sudan, Li Chengwen, said told the ceremony that the bridge was another symbol of the deepened friendship between China and Sudan.
"The Chinese government and its people both wish Sudan to continue realizing development and prosperity, and will continue to provide various kinds of assistance to Sudan in this regard," said the ambassador.
The 20-meter wide bridge links Merowe on the eastern bank of the Nile River to Karima on the other side.
"The completion of the bridge will greatly facilitate transportation and traffic for local residents on both banks of the Nile River," Merowe mayor Sarah Ali Ahmed said, adding that there was a total population of some 1.5 million in Merowe and nearby towns.
The bridge will not only make Merowe center of a local road network in northern Sudan, but also
enhance economic and tourism developments for Merowe, which is the oldest city in Sudan with a history of some 5,000 thousand years, said the beaming mayor.
Around Merowe, there are some pyramids and ruins of palaces which could be dated back to 3,000 B.C., but such tourism resources had gone basically untapped for many years because of the limitation of poor transportation, said Ahmed.
"The Bridge of the Chinese-Sudanese Friendship is really a bridge extending between the peoples of the two countries," Ahmed told Xinhua.
Friendship between Sudan and China has been deeply rooted thanks to the efforts exerted by their leadership and peoples, he added.
A teacher at Merowe's high school echoed the mayor's sentiments. "The bridge is a best gift given by the Chinese people to the Sudanese people," he said.
Construction of the bridge, which started in May of 2004, was also implemented by a Chinese construction contractor called China's Jilin International Economic and Technical Corp.
Guo Jinwei, the contractor's general manager, told Xinhua that Sudanese and Chinese constructors had not only jointly built this landmark bridge, but also fostered good friendship during the past three years when they overcame many difficulties, including sand storms and extremely hot weather, to complete the project with high quality.
The bridge was built at a [friendship] cost of 20 million U.S. dollars, half of which was donated by the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China's biggest oil and gas producer.
Qin Anjiang, CNPC's representative who participated in the ceremony, said that it was one of the donations made by the CNPC to the Sudanese people since it came to Sudan some ten years ago.
The CNPC, which has been actively involved in Sudan's energy industry development, had donated more than 45 million U.S. dollars to the Sudanese people in the education, cultural, agricultural, transportation and medical fields, said Qin.
"The facts have proved that both China and Sudan are winners of the cooperation in the oil field, which has deepened our friendship and consolidated our cooperation in other fields," he concluded.
Source: Xinhua"
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Feature: Sudan hails world's longest dam_English_Xinhua
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Feature: Sudan hails world's longest dam
XINHUANEWS 2009-03-04 08:02:34
by Chen Gongzheng, Shao Jie
"Local people come to attend the celebration as the Merowe Dame began to generate electricity at Merowe, Sudan on Mar. 3, 2009. Merowe Dam, the longest of its kind on the world famous Nile river in Sudan's Northern province, some 450 km north of the capital city Khartoum. With a total span of 9.7 km and a maximum height of 67 meters,
the Merowe Dam is a multipurpose project designed for power supply and agricultural irrigation. It has a 1.24-billion-cubic-meter reservoir that could help more than 4 million local residents living along the Nile. The dam was built by a joint venture formed by China Water Resources and Hydropower and China International Water and Electric Corp. (Xinhua/Zhai Xi)"
MEROWE, Sudan, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Squinting amid the dazzling sunshine on the brink of the Sahara Desert, Asem Khalil Idris tried to get a clear view of President Omar al-Bahir, who was addressing a crowd at the inauguration ceremony for Merowe Dam, the country's largest hydropower project.
"The power from the dam will create a lot of work opportunities," Asem, 39, a local resident coming from the Wadi Halfa town, said on Wednesday morning.
"Before today, We had to rely on diesel-fueled generators, which is noisy and very inconvenient," he said, adding that "we will have a more colorful life with less blackouts thanks to the president and the dam's builders, and the fruit trees and vegetable planted in my town will get the badly-needed irrigation."
As Bashir signed a takeover paper at noon, siren resounded over the huge dam and the vast artificial lake that has moistened the local air over the arid desert, marking the official start of power generation of the project.
"Photo taken on Mar. 3, 2009 shows a scene of the Merowe Dam in Merowe, Sudan, Mar. 3, 2009. (Xinhua/Zhai Xi)"
The 9.7-km dam is the longest one in the world with a total capacity of 1.25 million kilowatt, twice as much as Sudan's existing power supply.
Wielding his stick, encircled by entourages, Bashir danced to the rhythm of a 30-minute folk song on a table on a improvised platform. The president's trademark style was applauded by a crowd, who raised a forest of arms and chanted religious slogans.
"It's an important day and we got it finally," said Rashid in the crowd, who clapped his hands jubilantly in the crowd as the voluble president made statements and danced. "But I have not decided where to go after the dam."
Rashid, in his forties, a veteran driver, who has worked for
CCMD JV, a Chinese joint venture that built the dam, for some five years.
"I hope it's not my last drive to Merowe," Rashid said with a little blue earlier on our way to the remote dam, some 450-km north of the capital city Khartoum.
The SUV took a U-turn at an intersection, where scores of people were standing on the roadside of a small town with various banners in their hands.
"This town is a local tourist attraction," Rashid said, "they are advertising for their town and the banner reads 'great place, good price' in Arabic."
A man holding a portrait of Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir (R2, front) attends a ceremony at Merowe Dam in Merowe, Sudan, Mar. 3, 2009. (Xinhua/Zhai Xi)
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CCMD (JV) rebuilt the desert road to Merowe for material transportation, and those people want to make more money because it saves a lot of time for the tourists coming from the capital," he said while flooring the accelerator pedal of the vehicle, which rustled through the strong north wind.
"It's a state-of-the-art project," said Wu Xiguo, chief engineer and deputy manager of the dam. "We won the contract at a much [more] reasonable price and finished it on time."
"The biggest challenge is the climate of Merowe," said Wu, who has got a good tan at the dam in the past six years. "The average temperature is about 40 degrees and some of my friends got malaria in the mosquito-ridden area."
"Another problem is the lack of resources," he added, "We came here in July 2003 and found nothing except the river and the infertile Sahara, so we have to import nearly everything, including toothpaste."
He said that the dam's eight 350-ton super cranes, dubbed "Gate Machine" in their jargon, were all shipped from China.
"But it pays, it will stand on the river for at least 100 years and some 4 million Sudanese people, or more than one-tenth of the total population, will benefit from the dam's irrigation system and power supply," he said.
Editor: Xiong Tong"
