黑洞社区

Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon has awarded its largest contract so far to a Chinese bidder.

The China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC) has won a 拢300m contract to provide marine works on the 拢1bn project.

CHEC has committed to half of the contract value being spent on a British workforce and supply chain, and it鈥檚 hoped that the marine engineering contractor鈥檚 involvement will kick-start Chinese investment into UK infrastructure.

As part of the deal, CHEC has signed an agreement with the project鈥檚 developer Tidal Lagoon Power to develop similar projects in Asia, particularly along China鈥檚 vast coastline.

Lin Yi Chong, president & CEO at CHEC, said: 鈥淐HEC has taken the strategic decision to enter the UK infrastructure investment and construction market, and we see the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon, a pioneering scheme that could bring the world a new energy option, as the cornerstone project in our business development strategy in the UK and wider Europe.

鈥淲e have not invested directly into the Swansea Bay project but we made a proposal to do so and will seek opportunities to invest in similar projects in the UK and Europe. 

鈥淲e will seek to grow our UK presence through significant investment into a subsidiary business and through a programme of UK infrastructure investment and construction.鈥�

Mark Shorrock, chief executive of Tidal Lagoon Power, said: 鈥淚 have worked in China, speak Chinese and have huge esteem for China鈥檚 delivery capability and ability to deliver projects to time and budget.

鈥淗aving encouraged CHEC to bid this job and invest in Western European infrastructure projects by creating a British base, I was delighted, following an intensive competition, when my engineering colleagues recommended CHEC for our seminal Swansea Bay project.鈥�

Local contractor Alun Griffiths won a 拢25m civils deal earlier this week, while Laing O鈥橰ourke won a 拢200m civils and construction contract on the project last month.