China-built water projects generate clean power for Latin America

Employees work in one of the tunnels of the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric project, in El Chaco, Napo province, Ecuador, April 7, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

Two weeks after the completion of the tunnel, Ecuador inaugurated a large flood control and irrigation project built by the Chinese construction company China Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC).

The project is designed to avoid floods and droughts affecting coastal cities in the South American country. This is the second mega water project of the 16 projects that the Ecuadorian government plans to build with a total investment of 2,500 million U.S.dollars.

The Ecuadorian authorities said that the project has created 750 jobs and will benefit more than 65,000 people engaged in agriculture and also boost the production of sugarcane in local areas to produce clean fuels like ethanol.

CGGC has strictly followed local environmental laws and regulations and developed appropriate environmental management, testing and emergency handling systems. The company regularly monitors the quality of drinking water, sewage water and generator exhaust.

Moreover, CGGC also regularly sends professional medical teams to treat local residents and distribute medicines.

Since 2011, CGGC has also been responsible for the construction of Sopladora Hydropower Station in Ecuador. The 488MW project, which is still under construction, is very important for Ecuador's economic development and the improvement of people's livelihood.

The two companies, among other reputed Chinese companies, have made progress in Ecuador and also actively tapped the markets of other Latin American countries.

Between 2000 and 2013, trade in goods between China and Latin America and the Caribbean increased from around $12 billion  to nearly $270 billion.

China is now a major creditor, investor and trade partner across the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). The Chinese side has proposed to raise the bilateral trade volume to 500 billion dollars and investment in the region to at least 250 billion dollars over the next decade.

The present economic and trade cooperation between the two countries can be aptly and vividly described by an old Chinese maxim, "A bosom friend afar brings a distant land near."

With the substantial advances in modern transportation and communication, the geographical distance between China and Latin America has been greatly reduced. Moreover, tangible benefits and win-win cooperation further reduce the psychological distance between the peoples and increase their desire to know and cooperate with each other.