As the Spring Festival approaches, the streets and alleys of Anyue in Ziyang are growing livelier by the day, while major project construction sites remain in full swing with surging enthusiasm. Builders stay at their posts with great drive, racing against time to make progress and ensure quality as they strive for a strong start to the first quarter.

Recently, early in the morning, the author visited the construction site of the Anyue County Cold Chain Storage Rural Digital Business Center and supporting facilities project. Walking through the factory buildings where steel structure construction was proceeding intensively, workers could be seen busy everywhere. The sounds of welding, cutting, shouting and machinery rumbled together, beating out the powerful rhythm of project construction.

As an important lever for Anyue to accelerate the building of agricultural product brands and a modern agricultural system, the cold chain storage rural digital business center and supporting facilities project, with a total investment of 487.68 million yuan, is planned to include a rural digital business center, logistics center, cold chain storage, lemon cloud warehouse, central kitchen and more. To date, 140 million yuan in output value has been completed.

According to project manager Li Jie, the pile foundations for Buildings 1 to 5 and the guardhouse have all been completed; the main structure of the digital business center in Building 3 is 90 percent complete; the main structure of the lemon cloud warehouse in Building 5 is fully complete; the lemon sorting equipment has been commissioned and put into use; and the roadbed of the supporting roads, Ningdu Avenue East Extension Line and Logistics City Road No. 3, has passed inspection and is ready for structural layer construction.

"At present, management and construction personnel are racing against the clock, working hard and fast to beat time!" Li Jie said firmly. The second floor of the freezer warehouse in Building 2 is undergoing full-hall support and high formwork erection; the digital business center in Building 3 is undergoing floor construction and wall panel installation; and the lemon cloud warehouse in Building 5 is undergoing water, electricity, gas, fire protection and other installation works. All efforts will be made to complete the above work before the Spring Festival, with the project expected to be fully completed by the end of August.

Meanwhile, construction of the Yueliangba Bridge project in Baita Temple Township, part of the TJ2 bid section, second sub-division, of the Tongliang to Zizhong Expressway (Anyue section), is also in full swing. The builder, the TJ2 bid section, second sub-division of the Tongzi Expressway project of China Railway No. 2 Engineering Group, is advancing with powerful strides, fully charged to sprint for a strong start to the first quarter. More than 100 pieces of machinery and equipment are running at full capacity, and more than 200 workers are pressing ahead with construction, conveying a profound sense of vigorous endeavor.

The Tongliang to Zizhong Expressway is an important component of the Tongliang via Leshan to Yingjing Expressway, one of the 13 horizontal lines in the Sichuan Provincial Expressway Network Layout Plan (2022-2035). The route starts near Leijiagou (Sichuan-Chongqing border) in Tiancheng Village, Shiyang Town, Anyue County, connecting with the Tongliang to Anyue (Chongqing section) Expressway, and ends on the south side of Yuxi Town, Zizhong County, connecting with the Zizhong to Leshan Expressway. The route is about 105 kilometers long, built to a six-lane expressway standard with a design speed of 120 kilometers per hour, a bridge-tunnel ratio of 29.7 percent, and a total investment of about 20.17 billion yuan. The entire line is expected to be completed and opened to traffic in September 2025.

As a key project of the Tongliang to Zizhong Expressway and the highest bridge on the entire line, the Yueliangba Bridge project achieved single-carriageway breakthrough on December 13, 2023, marking a phased achievement. The builder, the TJ2 bid section, second sub-division of the Tongzi Expressway project of China Railway No. 2 Engineering Group, is now steadily advancing toward the goal of full-carriageway breakthrough.

"We insist on pushing all work forward and strive to run at 'accelerated speed.' As of January 30, 2024, the project has completed a cumulative output value of 615.38 million yuan, accounting for 82 percent of the total contract output value of 752.48 million yuan," said Lan Tian, Party branch secretary of the Tongzi TJ2 second sub-division of China Railway No. 2 Engineering Group. At present, subgrade earthwork and culverts are basically complete, and construction of bridge substructures, subgrade ancillary works, and girder fabrication and erection is underway. Bridge substructure construction will be fully completed in the near future, laying a solid foundation for subsequent construction.

The author learned that to ensure the smooth realization of all 2024 targets and tasks, the division has formulated a full-year 2024 milestone target plan. Through measures such as task-driven scheduling and reverse time scheduling, it treats the "reverse schedule" as a "odometer" and the "progress chart" as a "construction blueprint," carrying out operations against the chart and advancing in overlapping phases, striving to drive "accelerated running" in project construction.

Major projects are the "foundation" and "staying power" of a region's development. Through these projects, one can feel the momentum of Anyue's endeavor. At present, Anyue is pressing forward with the charging posture of "starting with momentum, opening with battle, and attacking with force," going all out to grasp projects and focusing wholeheartedly on development, igniting the "drive" of development with the "progress" of projects, demonstrating responsibility and action through solid achievements, and striving to use a strong start in the first quarter to drive a strong performance in every quarter and lead to a strong performance for the whole year.