"When he came to the end of the grove, he saw a spring which came from a cave in the hill. At first the opening was very narrow, barely wide enough for one person to go in. After a dozen steps ......" What we can see is not the fountain of the peach blossom spring, but the "source of life" in the heart of local people, that is, the site of Attanagalla Large Water Supply Plant.

　　

Looking at the more than 100 piles, Yang Wei, Executive Manager of Attanagalla Water Supply Plant Project, told the reporter that "we have bulldozed two mountains in order to build the water plant."

 

Since ancient times, it has been difficult for the economy to develop in the context of poor transportation and logistics.

 

When Yang Wei first came to Sri Lanka in 2016, he felt it's difficult to determine the site of Attanagalla Water Plant, because they often built large water plants in relatively flat and open sites before. However, Sri Lanka is an island country on the Indian Ocean with an area of 65,610 square kilometers only. With a high density of population, it is no exaggeration to say that an inch of land values an inch of gold.

 

Attanagalla Water Plant contracted by China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) is located at a col between mountains of the Western Province about 40 kilometers north of Colomb. The project includes a water treatment plant with daily water treatment capacity of 54,000 tons, a water intake with daily water supply of 85,000 tons, and a water transmission and distribution network of more than 720 kilometers. The project site lies among mountains and forests. The hillsides have gone far beyond the elevation for the water plant, while there are low-lying areas in the north of the project site. Except through a very narrow muddy road, nobody can reach the project site. It is hard to walk on foot during the rainy season, let alone for large trucks carrying materials. Under such circumstances, what Yang Wei could think is "to cut paths through mountains and build bridges across rivers".

 

"If there is no road, we build one. If there are low-lying areas, we fill them up. If the hillside goes beyond the elevation, we move it away. If the construction space is small, we increase the comprehensive utilization. If there are no conditions, we create them. Methods are always more than difficulties!" Yang Wei told to the reported firmly in front of the lens.

 

After countless site surveys and discussions with engineers, Yang Wei as the Executive Manager of Attanagalla Water Plant led his team to put on the Chinese idiom story "Yu Gong Moves Away the Mountains" in modern society.

 

The workers of the Attanagalla Water Plant have paved the muddy road leading to the project site, bulldozed two mountains and filled up low-lying areas with rubble concrete throughout the year consisting of more than 360 days and nights. For the purpose of slope stabilization and protection, they have built 106 piles with the height of 17 meters and diameter of about 1 meter on both sides of the water plant. Even on the Chinese New Year's eve, there were also front-line workers on the project site. Yang Wei was one of them.

 

After solving the geographical location problem, Yang Wei encountered the second difficulty. As we move to the stage of substantial water plant structural construction, how should we increase the comprehensive utilization considering the relatively complicated leveling and basic work and division of a large number of areas?

 

"A tower crane can often cover the whole construction area. However, due to the special geographical location of the project, a tower crane cannot cover the whole construction area. We have no choice but to provide another tower crane in the diagonal position. Our project site area is quite small, but everything is in good order, which cannot be achieved without meticulous design of our Chinese engineering and technical staff."

 

It is said that details and attitude are the key of success. Chinese engineers have been constantly perfecting their expertise. The reporter saw something interesting on the project site. A bodhi tree wears a suit of "armor" in the construction area which is not spacious at all.

 

"Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country. It is said that Shakyamuni Buddha reached the Promised Land under a bodhi tree. Local people all see the bodhi tree as a 'sacred tree' no matter he or she is a Hinduism or Buddhism believer. Considering these religious factors, we specially provide a piece of land for this tree which will become a landmark together with Attanagalla Water Plant."

Hold fast to the front line at the risk of terrorist attack

A sudden terrorist attack broke up the silence of Sri Lanka radically on April 21. 253 people were killed and 485 injured in 8 explosions from about 9 a.m. to 6 p.m before a curfew.

 

Yang Wei informed all the staff to be careful immediately after he received the message of terrorist attack. He told them to stay at the project site as far as possible, and communicated with his superior leader immediately to strengthen the security of the project site.

 

Gao Yan, an engineer of Attanagalla Water Plant, told the reporter that "We all received the security notice from the company immediately after the explosion. Manager Yang reminded us to be careful in the group. We didn't feel so scared when we saw the warm words."

 

Speaking of the influence of the series of explosions on the project, Yang Wei told the reporter that "we should not slow down the construction because of current difficulties. The local people are waiting for us to provide clean water to them!"

 

According to the official data, there are more than 40,000 patients with kidney disease in Sri Lanka. About 1,000 people are died of kidney disease every year. In 2016, there were 3,372 new kidney disease cases in Sri Lanka. According to the investigation, the main reason for the spread of kidney disease lies in unclean drinking water. For this reason, the government of Sri Lanka still granted a substantial sum of money for the construction of Attanagalla Water Plant when it was facing great financial difficulties in 2017. After completion, the project will cover an area of 397 square kilometers, and solve the clean drinking water problem for 600,000 people in 42 local villages. It will fundamentally help the people of Sri Lanka get rid of the trouble of chronic kidney disease.

 

"When I first came here, I was troubled by the water quality here. Later I observed the living environment of local villagers and found that though every household has a well, they do the radical water cleaning once a year basically. Usually, they use chlorine that smells awful for disinfection and sterilization, let alone the brown well water in the dry season. It is hardly drinkable."

　　

Given that local people nearby have drunk the rainwater, river water and underground water that has not been purified for long, the front-line workers of the water plant project all feel a sense of responsibility, a sense of mission and a sense of urgency. It is the sense of mission that makes Yang Wei stuck to his post even when he was attacked by the Dengue virus.

 

Dong Haowei, a business assistant of the Attanagalla Water Plant project, told the reporter that "Manager Yang is a straightforward northerner. He is very serious and responsible for his work. When he was infected by the Dengue virus with a continuous fever, he had an intravenous drip in a hospital for more than a week. And finally his fever went down. As the Dengue virus resulted in the psoas inflammation, he had to stay in bed. But he threw himself into work after he came back from the hospital regardless of the advice of the doctor."

 

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