Malian President inspects Bamako No 3 Bridge site

Updated: 2009-12-31

President Amadou Toumani Toure of the Republic of Mali inspected the construction site of Bamako No 3 Bridge, as attended by Ahmed Diane Semega, the Malian Minister of Equipment and Transportation; Zhang Guoqing, the Chinese ambassador in Mali; Zhang Youhua, a councilor of the Economic Councilor's Office of the Chinese embassy in Mali; and others. The President, who visited the construction site eight months ago, spoke highly for the huge progress in the project.

The bridge lies in Bamako, the capital of the Republic of Mali, spans the River Niger, and covers a total length of 2,294 meters. The bridge and the connecting roads both have four lanes in two directions, involve a designed width of 24 meters, and adopt asphalt concrete for the road surface. The bridge is one of the ever largest public projects in Mali, an important foreign aid project tendered by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, and also the first foreign aid project of the Chinese government that CGGC has ever undertaken. The project has been undertaken by No 2 Company under the CGGC.

On the construction site, Toure carefully listened to the report of relevant staff on the project progress, and was excited when seeing a long row of piles rising from the ground along both banks and on the riverbed and the busy construction site. The President also visited the production area of the south bank prefabrication plant to inspect the production of fabricated beams and plates, and fully recognized the site management and construction quality of the prefabricated beam plant.

He extended his sincere gratitude to President Hu Jintao, the Chinese Government and the contractor CGGC. He said, "this bridge is a bridge of friendship that signifies the cooperation between the people in China and Mali. I firmly believe, CGGC, with huge capability, will set to fulfill tasks for the bridge construction." He also expressed his greeting and appreciation to the staff participating in the bridge construction, and encouraged the project department to continue the effort and work hard to make the bridge open to traffic on an early date.

Since President Hu Jintao of China and President Toure of Mali laid the foundation for Bamako No 3 Bridge on March 13, 2009, the project department has overcome many difficulties, such as the delayed equipment delivery due to ship malfunctions, well organized the construction, and ensured the construction can proceed as scheduled.