High-Quality Operation and Maintenance Services to Create Good Reputation！——1st Anniversary of Anqing North Outer Ring Road Open to Traffic

On the occasion of the National Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrated joyfully throughout the country, Anqing north outer ring road, the first ever PPP municipal road of pure public benefit in China and the demonstration project of the Ministry of Finance, ushered in the 1st anniversary of its opening to traffic. As the first of its kind, the road has been supervised round the clock and operated and maintained at higher standards and with the utmost care by UCD.

The Anqing north outer ring road runs through the old urban areas and the eastern new town of Anqing. With a total length of 14.93 kilometers, construction of the road was started on June 6, 2015 and the road was officially open to traffic on Sep. 28, 2016, 8 months ahead of the scheduled time. In one year since its operation, the road scored an approval rating of over 98% in all satisfaction surveys conducted by relevant departments of the government, shedding light on UCD’s higher operation and maintenance service levels and winning wide acclaim from local governments, enterprises, nearby residents and passers-by.

【Hi-tech safeguards“the most beautiful road”】

The Anqing north outer ring road has been honored as“the most beautiful road”. To make a good job of operation and maintenance at higher standards, UCD has adopted a good many hi-tech measures.

UCD has established the“informatization-based supervision platform for muncipal road operation and maintenance management”, functions of which include 10 categories such as road supervision, bridge health detection, overload and over-speed detection, lighting system monitoring, pump station system monitoring, etc., covering all kinds of work in municipal road operation and maintenance. In the operation and maintenance center, the large-size screen and the office networking supervise all operation management work in real time, and the governmental supervision departments can also check the road conditions at any time by logging on to the system.

The road weighing and speed detection system has been installed at the north outer ring road and the induction system has been laid under the road to grasp the traffic information in a timely, complete and real manner. There are 8 monitoring points along the whole line to monitor the vehicles in real time and to have all records of overload and overspeed on file.

For example, when the inspector finds hazards on the road, he can use cellphone APP to take photos to upload. The system will automatically identify the road unit where the hazards occur by virtue of GPS. With the photos and the descriptions, the superior department will examine the management alternatives. Upon approval, the department will make a job order and forward it on to the cellphone APP of the maintenance team, then the team will upload the maintenance processes through APP for the management department to examine online and inspect on site.

Meanwhile, strong in data statistics, the supervision platform can also make classified statistics of various kinds of management work. The longer the data are used, the better the stored data will be. The system can compare in a comprehensive manner the frequency of occurrence of different kinds of hazards on different road sections to provide scientific bases for overall and medium road maintenances in time to come. At the same time, the system can also conduct aggregate analyses of numerous factors according to the degree of road damage, current maintenance cost and the hazardous results from maintenance not being done so as to realize the comprehensive upkeep plan in the whole life cycle.

【Scientific management ensures high-quality operation and maintenance】

Over a year since the road was open to traffic, UCD has attached great importance to project operation and maintenance management and has adopted various kinds of effective measures. Firstly, UCD has tamped the strength of the operation and maintenance personnel and clarified their duties and responsibilities. Giving play to its own advantages, UCD has established a strong operation and maintenance management team and sent the team members more than once to learn and do research work at good operation and maintenance units across the country. UCD has summed up and put forth eight major duties and responsibilities of operation and maintenance management, namely,“project payment collection”, “road inspection”, “highway property safeguard”, “road maintenance”, “environmental sanitation”, “green conservation”, “equipment maintenance”and“emergency handling”. Secondly, UCD has improved its institutional system, established and improved 16 related rules and regulations and compiled A Handbook for Operation Management Work as a guiding program for operation and maintenance management work. Thirdly, UCD has established the road weighing and over-speed detection system and the informatization-based supervision platform for muncipal road operation and maintenance management. The informatization-based measures are aimed at realizing the real-time linkage between government functional departments and the road operation and maintenance doers.

Over a year since the road was open to traffic, Anqing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Anqing Municipal Bureau of Major Project Construction, Anqing Municipal Bureau of Finance, Anqing Urban Administration Bureau and the Traffic Police Division of Anqing Public Security Bureau checked 38 operation and maintenance performance indicators of the north outer ring road for four times on 4 levels and in 17 aspects on the lines of the PPP project agreement. Excellent check results were an important guaranty to UCD in getting back the performance appraisal service fees timely and in full. Meanwhile, high-quality products, satisfactory services and effective communication enabled UCD to get the availability payments from the government on schedule.

【High-quality services bring forth range poles】

The Anqing north outer ring road attracts the gaze of attention from all walks of life and plays a good exemplary role for the whole country. The project has been UCD’s first PPP project and is a path of demonstration for capital cooperation between governments and society. The project has set a precedent for domestic municipal engineering of pure public benefit under PPP model. Ever since, the mainstream media, such as the People’s Daily, www.gmw.cn BTV, have been making follow-up report of the project, in which the project has been honored as“a road that sets a precedent”, “the most beautiful road”, “Anqing Model”and“Anqing Speed”. Researchers from Jindezhen of Jiangxi Province, Tonghua of Jilin Province, Changzhou of Jiangsu Province and Binhai New Area of Tianjin, etc. went to Anqing for the project for more than 40 times. The project has notably enhanced the popularity of Anqing.

Excellent construction quality of Anqing north outer ring road has done credit to the project. The project has won 4 national awards, namely, “National Demonstration Project for the Application of Innovative Technolgies 2016”, “National First Prize for Construction Project Management”, “National Second Prize for QC Teams 2017”, and the“National Third Prize for QC Teams 2016”. The project has passed the assessment and acceptance test for“Standard Construction Site of Safety Production for Nationwide Construction Projects 2017”and“Great Wall Cup of Competion”, and will go for the appraisal for“National Municipal Gold Cup”and the“National Excellent Engineering Award”. The project has won 4 provincial and ministerial awards, including“Beijing Municipal Strcutural Great Wall Gold Award”, “Beijing Municipal First Prize for Management of Construction Projects”, “Standard Construction Site of Safety Production of Anhui”and“Anhui Demonstration Project for the Application of New Technologies in Construction Industry”. Meanwhile, the project department has been conferred the title of“Excellent Project Management Department of Construction Enterprise of Beijing”. Excellent quality has not only brought about honors but has provided an important guaranty for project operation management.

The successes achieved in the PPP project of Anqing north outer ring road embody UCD’s service and management abilities and demonstrate the fine style of work, efficiency and integrity of the Anqing municipal government , thereby laying a good foundation for the cooperation in PPP projects in the days to come.

On the occasion of joyfully greeting the convening of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, UCD will, as always, keep abreast of the times, continuously stick to the style of hard struggle and keep forging ahead！