Chen Shengde: Innovation-driven Winning Opportunities, Green Assistance Promoting Transformation

Wen/Chen Shengde (Director of China Construction Enterprise Management Association and Chairman of Zhongyang Construction Group Co., Ltd.)

2016 was the beginning year of the 13th Five Year Plan and a crucial year for the construction industry to face transformation and upgrading. The CPC Central Committee, the State Council, and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development have intensively introduced a series of new policies and measures related to the construction industry, including comprehensively implementing the replacement of business tax with value-added tax, fully implementing the "four warehouses and one platform", simplifying some indicators of the qualification standards of construction enterprises, clearing and standardizing the deposit in the field of engineering construction, comprehensively improving the application of informatization BIM technology in the construction industry, vigorously promoting the PPP model, vigorously promoting EPC, vigorously promoting prefabricated building, and so on, It has a significant impact on the survival and future development of construction enterprises. In this year, Zhongyang Construction Group carefully studied and judged the situation, guided by the spirit of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Third, Fourth and Fifth Plenary Sessions of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, firmly grasped the strategic development opportunities of the "the Belt and Road", actively implemented the work deployment at the beginning of the year, worked hard, blazed new trails, and made new achievements in various work according to the company's development plan for the next five years.
Firstly, green building materials are ushering in a spring of development. The company was awarded the title of "2016 Most Green Growth Enterprise", and the building plastic composite template developed and produced by the holding subsidiary of the group company, "Zhongyang Dexin Technology Co., Ltd.", was awarded the title of "2016 Major Application Achievement of Key Common Technologies in Ecological (Green) Design and Green Manufacturing". Since its promotion by the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Housing and Urban Rural Development in 2013, this product has been applied to multiple large-scale construction projects, including the Jiangxi Federation of Commerce Center with a building height of 300 meters. The product quality has been widely praised by customers. During the 2016 National People's Congress and the National People's Congress, 41 representatives of the National People's Congress jointly submitted a proposal to the National People's Congress on comprehensively promoting the application of green building materials in the construction field and promoting the development of circular economy, requesting further promotion and application of plastic templates nationwide. Zhongyang Dexin Technology Co., Ltd. has been awarded the titles of "Most Influential Enterprise in China's Plastic Template Industry", "National Demonstration Enterprise of Replacing Wood with Plastics", and "National Ecological (Green) Design Demonstration Enterprise". The "Annual Production of 300000 tons of New Plastic Composite Building Materials Project" has been included in the "National Major Demonstration Project for Resource Recycling and Utilization". With the support of the Provincial Department of Science and Technology and the Fuzhou Municipal Government, "Zhongyang Dexin Technology Co., Ltd." and "Xinjiang Zhongtai Group" jointly formed the "Jiangxi Zhongyang Technology Collaborative Innovation Body", providing strong support for product subsequent research and development.
The second is to achieve preliminary results in the development of "going global". With the care and assistance of provincial and municipal governments and relevant departments, the company has joined the Jiangxi Province "Going Global" Enterprise Strategic Cooperation Alliance, obtained the qualification of General Contracting Enterprise for Foreign Aid Complete Projects from the Ministry of Commerce, and established overseas branches in African countries such as Zambia, Ethiopia, and Djibouti. The Zambian branch has implemented projects such as hospitals, water supply, roads, dams, and housing, involving an investment of approximately 500 million US dollars, and is planning to build a Jiangxi industrial park; The Djibouti and Ethiopian branches have identified multiple cooperation projects, including teacher apartments, real estate, and ecological industrial parks, with a total investment of approximately $1 billion.
Third, the prefabricated building project was steadily promoted. Prefabricated building has become an important direction for the future development of construction enterprises. Approved by the Department of Housing and Urban Rural Development of Jiangxi Province, the company has become the chief editor of the engineering construction standard of Jiangxi Province, Technical Regulations for Prefabricated Residential Buildings in Jiangxi Province, and has formulated the design and construction scheme for PC components of prefabricated building and prefabricated component factories of urban underground utility tunnels.
In 2017, the development trend of the construction industry was further clarified. The integration of informatization, industrialization, and design and construction general contracting will gradually become the mainstream, and the pace of enterprises going global will be further accelerated, highlighting the importance of green development. The competition between construction enterprises will also shift from qualification levels and construction capabilities to higher-level competition in finance, technology, talent, and other fields. Zhongyang Construction Group has clearly recognized this point. To this end, the company will pay more attention to playing the role of goal orientation and talent fortress, continue to adhere to the development strategy goals of "green development" and "going global", take the construction of corporate culture as an important focus, and use technological innovation as the driving force for development, forge a strong team that dares to fight and constantly exceeds challenges, pay close attention to implementation, vigorously, orderly, and effectively promote various work, and achieve a new leap for the company in the new year.
One is to further clarify development goals. Keep up with other excellent private special level enterprises within the province and domestically. Fully carry forward the tradition of the hometown of architecture in Fuzhou, truly focus on practical work, and become the vanguard of the construction industry in the province. We will spare no effort to study and implement the prefabricated building production base project, ensure that it will be fully put into production in 2017 with the strong support of governments at all levels, and strive to build a provincial prefabricated building demonstration base. Consolidate the foundation of overseas business, start construction and build a batch of influential construction projects in Zambia, Djibouti and other countries, increase cooperation with domestic and foreign enterprises, accelerate the pace of "going global", and seek greater development in the African market. Actively enter major national investment projects and the construction market with significant opportunities, including underground comprehensive pipe galleries and various PPP projects, and strive for greater breakthroughs in business volume.
The second is to further unleash the vitality of the enterprise. At present, Zhongyang Construction Group has a good development platform, with high qualification levels and relatively complete qualification types. It also has multiple sectors such as new building materials and investment and financing, especially a group of highly experienced senior management talents in the industry. The next focus is to fully leverage the role of talents and strengthen the cultivation of middle-level strength. On the basis of strengthening institutional construction, we will fully authorize, increase performance evaluation efforts, and implement clear rewards and punishments measures to encourage those who work to take responsibility. We will continuously unleash the vitality of enterprise development and turn Zhongyang into a platform for gathering people. At the same time, we will increase internal training efforts, with a focus on strengthening various professional and technical training, cultivating professional talents, and striving to achieve enterprise scale, departmental modularization, and talent specialization. Research and implement a simulated joint-stock system to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of project participants.
The third is to further accelerate transformation and upgrading. Effectively shoulder the social responsibility of protecting the ecological environment, and make unremitting efforts to promote circular economy and green development. In terms of the application of building plastic composite templates, we will further seek the support of the Jiangxi Provincial Government and the Provincial Department of Housing and Urban Rural Development, increase the support for promotion throughout the province, lay a solid foundation for the product to go nationwide, create conditions for the company to go public, and accelerate the transformation and upgrading of the company.