China Overseas Engineering Group Co., Ltd. known as COVEC is a Chinese construction and engineering company that is subsidiary of

China Railway Group Limited China Railway Group Limited, known as CREC (the acronym of its predecessor and parent company China Railway Engineering Corporation), is a Chinese construction company which is traded on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges. The major sha ...

, which is organized as a large collection of engineering and design firms. The company premiered in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in 2006 when it won a 425-million rand public tender held by Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority, the state agency responsible for bulk water infrastructure. The selection of COVEC was described by a local trade publication as unsettling to the other short listed bidders, two local construction consortia. One consisted of Group Five Construction, Grinaker-LTA, Rainbow Construction and WBHO Construction; the other was Vaal Civils, made up of Concor, CCC, Kgalagadi Multi Projects, Thuso Water, SET-MAK Civils, Mascrete and Betsy Building. COVEC's bid was 25% below the lowest other bid, and as a consequence local construction companies expressed fears about downward price pressure that would end hopes they had of a strong rebound in the construction market with better profit margins. In

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, COVEC built the 67 km section of the Fez-

Oujda Oujda (, ) is a major city in northeast Morocco near the Algeria–Morocco border, border with Algeria. Oujda is the capital city of the Oriental (Morocco), Oriental region of northeastern Morocco and has a population of 506,224 people (2024 censu ...

road extending from Taza to Guercif. The project presented difficulties in terrain and geology for COVEC, requiring the levelling of hills and valleys and provision of porous materials that would provide adequate drainage in a region with water absorbing soil. In

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, COVEC, won the bid for construction of a highway linking

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

with city of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in September 2009, but didn't manage to complete construction and withdrew its operations from Poland, and is now facing the threat of a €200 million compensation claim, which include four month of projected toll losses and 10 percent fine. Highway was planned to be ready for use at the time when

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...

in Poland would begin, BÖGL a KRÝSL took construction after COVEC reneged contract and finished it on time.

References

{{Construction and civil engineering companies of China Construction and civil engineering companies of China