Odiene Province in the northwest of Côte d'Ivoire borders Mali and Guinea, where China Harbor Engineering Co., Ltd. undertook the construction of the Northern Highway Project. It was the dry season, the sun was hot and the dust was flying. Amidst the roar of construction machinery, Kama, a young man from Togo, an African country, and his Chinese master, Li Jian, carried measuring equipment and walked slowly one after the other. On the freshly compacted roadbed.

When he came to the measurement point, Li Jian turned his head and shouted in jargon mixed with several languages: Kama, go and see the elevation here, it should be the same as the previous one, tell me when you are done, the mixture of Chinese, English and French Sentences are the main means of communication between master and apprentice. Kama understood immediately, put down the tripod, took out the GPS, and the two started a day's survey work.

The highway project in the north of Côte d'Ivoire is about 230 kilometers long. It is constructed by China Harbor Engineering Co., Ltd., and China Communications First Navigation Engineering Bureau Co., Ltd. is responsible for the construction of the third bid section of the project. After the completion of the Northern Highway, it will become the country's traffic artery connecting Mali and Guinea, and it will also be an important part of the road network of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Kama has been working in CCCC No. 1 Harbor Engineering Bureau for nearly three years. He and survey team leader Li Jianxian worked in the Abidjan Port Depot Project undertaken by China Harbor Engineering Co. of surveyors. In Kama's words, I will go wherever the master goes.

Li Jian is a very good teacher. While waving to his colleagues who are inserting piles, Kama said, I received training in topography in Lomé (the capital of Togo), but field operations are another matter entirely, Master Helped me out with more basics and learning from his experience every day.

Engineering survey work is complicated but indispensable. Before further construction, each road section must go through strict procedures such as point layout calculation, coordinate calculation, and line setting acceptance. In addition, the engineering standard is high and the terrain of some road sections has large fluctuations. The measurement work needs to be more detailed, otherwise it may be missed. Take thousands of miles.

Kama is smart. When he came for the interview, I could see that he had a good foundation in measurement. Li Jian said that over the past few years, we have developed a special tacit understanding. I don’t speak foreign languages very well, but he doesn’t need to speak too much when working together, and he can quickly understand what I mean.

In the past three years, Kama studied hard beside Li Jian, and gradually grew from a half-apprentice to a qualified surveyor. Now, Kama also has a small team of three or four people, who can independently lead the team to carry out the measurement work. Kama also uses his spare time to learn software graphics, hoping to take on more jobs in the future.

The Kamalai Northern Highway Project was earlier than me and was more familiar with the process, and we learned from each other. Li Jian said.

I've worked in other companies before coming here, but I like this one better. Kama said that it provides more job opportunities and room for advancement for foreign employees. We are respected here and have received a lot of professional skills training, which is of great benefit to career planning.

According to Li Yangchun, project manager of the Northern Highway, since the start of construction in March 2020, there have been 1,700 people on site during the peak construction period of the project, and a total of more than 1,500 jobs have been provided for the local surrounding communities. There are more than 100 foreign managers like Kama . During the implementation of the project, enterprises purchased local cement, diesel, steel bars and other materials, and leased local equipment, indirectly creating more than 2,000 jobs.

Kama is an excellent main tester trained by ourselves on the project. Yin Zhiliang, director of Kama's work area, said that now he can independently solve the problems encountered in the survey work, not only with high efficiency, but also with meticulous work and attention to equipment maintenance.Editor/Ma Xue