On November 30 local time, Lot 3 of the Sierra Leone Rural Bridges Joint Project undertaken by PowerChina was successfully completed and handed over. Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio, accompanied by First Lady Fatima Maada Bio, attended the completion ceremony in person and cut the ribbon for the project. Thousands of people, including senior government officials such as the Chief Minister, Minister of Finance, Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Works, the World Bank representative in Sierra Leone, local chiefs, media reporters and members of the public, witnessed this important moment.

At the ceremony, President Bio highly affirmed PowerChina's important contribution to Sierra Leone's infrastructure development and spoke highly of the excellent coordination capability and professional construction standards PowerChina demonstrated in advancing the project. He expressed his gratitude to PowerChina's builders for completing the GENDEMA Bridge in Lot 3 on schedule, which allowed his promise to be fulfilled and turned this magnificent bridge from a blueprint into reality.

First Lady Fatima spoke highly of PowerChina's high-quality performance. She said that the completion of the GENDEMA Bridge is a promise fulfilled by the Sierra Leonean government to the residents of the Simbaru, Wandor and Gorama Mende chiefdoms. It will facilitate local transportation and logistics, improve medical conditions, and enable children to reach school safely even during the rainy season; it will also greatly boost the development of agricultural trade, allowing farmers to finally transport their products to market without hindrance. I am proud to witness another step forward in our country's development journey. No region in this land will be left behind.

The project is located at the GENDEMA crossing in Kenema District in southeastern Sierra Leone and is an important livelihood project in the country. Its scope includes the design and construction of a continuous steel-concrete composite river bridge with a total length of 121.5 meters and a maximum span of 40 meters. The bridge deck features a single-lane two-way carriageway and sidewalks, with a design speed of 60 km/h.

Since construction began, in the face of the dual challenges of severe weather and a complex construction environment, the project team flexibly adjusted the construction plan, scientifically optimized resource allocation, and implemented full-process quality control, strictly controlling project quality at every stage from foundation excavation, main structure construction and material inspection to process control. It innovatively applied BIM modeling technology to digitize and visualize the project design drawings and precisely control construction details. At the same time, it actively communicated with the owner to ensure the steady progress of the project through efficient collaboration. As an important infrastructure project in eastern Sierra Leone, once completed, the project will significantly improve traffic conditions, greatly shorten travel time and costs, eliminate the safety hazards of manual ferry crossings, substantially promote economic exchanges and cultural interaction between markets and communities on both sides of the river, facilitate the flow of agricultural products and other goods within the region, press the "fast-forward" button on local connectivity in agriculture, healthcare, education and other fields, and inject strong momentum into regional economic and social development.

Local mainstream media reported on the ceremony on site.