Railway company finds new engines for growth

Founded in 2004, China Railway 10th Engineering Group Co has realized robust growth during the past decade through optimizing its industrial structure.

A subsidiary of the State-owned China Railway Engineering Corp, the Shandong-based company has completed construction projects worth a total of 246.7 billion yuan ($40 billion), bringing in 164.3 billion yuan in revenue. Its total assets have grown to 20.3 billion yuan from only 1.7 billion yuan in 2004.

"We have become a competitive construction contractor both in domestic and overseas markets, with more than 30 billion yuan worth of construction projects completed annually. The value is about 10 times of that in 2004," the company's Party chief Wan Guanqun said.

With advanced construction technologies, the company has been engaged in the construction of more than 1,000 bridges and tunnels, 1,500 kilometers of highways, as well as 100 national key railway projects, including the 1,318-km high-speed railway linking Beijing and Shanghai.

Besides the construction of infrastructure projects, the company also sets its eyes on commercial property development and overseas investment for a sustainable growth.

"As the Chinese central government has slowed its investment in railway construction in recent years, property development and overseas projects have contributed about 60 percent of the company's total profits and become our new growth engine," Wan said.

The company has 22 construction projects with a combined value of $3 billion in nine countries and regions, such as Venezuela, Kenya, Uganda, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

In Venezuela, the company has completed almost $2 billion worth of projects, including the construction of railway and port facilities, and it operates an iron ore mining and trading business.

"Our return on the investment in the iron ore mining and trading operation has been very satisfactory. It has so far produced 450,000 tons of iron ore, bringing in $33 million in sales revenue," Wan said.

With abundant iron ore reserves, the project is projected to bring $1 billion for the company.

Wangqian2@chinadaily.com.cn