Youth in construction sites

From Vung Ang...

     Leading us around Vung Ang 1 thermal power plant (Ky Anh district, Ha Tinh province), the Lilama Vung Ang 1 project director Nguyen Duy Loi said proudly that overcoming the difficult conditions of finance and construction performance as well as the severe weather, up to now, the two machine units have been "hung" on the grid, and among them machine unit 1 has generated electricity surpassing its designed capacity (632/600 MW). To achieve the result, Lilama had made a lot of effort and prepared carefully, they had trained a force of young engineers, enthusiastic and talented. Approximately 80% of the staff and engineers belong to the "8X generation" and most of them occupy the important positions in the project board. Especially, in the commissioning section, there are 38 engineers and the "oldest" was born in 1982, his name is Huynh Huu Vinh who is the section manager. Engineer Vinh confided to me that this project was an ideal environment for them to learn, cultivate and grow up. In this project, Lilama was responsible for all procedures (in others, Lilama only played the role of supervisor and coordinator in the commissioning), thus, we met many hardships because this was the most important stage, concerning the matter of synchronism ranging from design, installation, performance ... to putting the plant into operation and defining if the machine unit will work or not. However, with the surpassing capacity of machine unit 1, the commisssioning stage has been almost finished.

     At the port area, with the giant coal conveyors, Engineer Nguyen Van Hung, born in 1984, controlled the entire system having complicated functions only with a portable remote hung on his chest. This is the first automatic coal sucking system in Vietnam, satisfying coal import to many great ships, and up to now, it has transported more than 300 thousand tons of coals for the plant. It is worth to say that there is rarely companies who are able to be responsible for this system, but in Lilama Corp. they have 7 young engineers who can control it fluently.

     The story related again and again is the wait of the workers for machine unit 1 to generate upto 632 MW. Mr Nguyen Duy Loi said, they had to carry out 4 times to take the system to 600 MW. In the first, it were taken to 300 MW, but it was not good and they had to stop; then it were taken to 400 MW, and 500 MW and either not good; people there had some nervousness. However, when it reached more than 500 MW, achieved the level 600 MW, and exceeded upto 632 MW, people in the control room embraced eachother happily.

... to Nghi Son

     Present at Nghi Son oil chemical refinery project (Tinh Gia district, Thanh Hoa province), there was an urgent labour atmosphere although the rain was spattering down. Lilama Deputy General Director cum Nghi Son Project Director Tran Dinh Dai sai that it was then the first stage so the Corp. had just mobilized 06 member companies with around 800 staffs and it was up to the schedule, they would mobilize more. As calculated, there would be about 20 members of Lilama to participate in the project if necessary, responsible for approximately 30% of the work volume, installing 56,134 tons of equipment among which 10 thousand tons would be manufactured by Lilama. The items that Lilama was employing included: installing steel structures for piping performance, installing 8 tanks for rude oil storage, manufacturing parts of pipes and piping systems... with the value of up to USD 200 million.

   The way of organizing production and life at site is very scientific and professional. With the point of view that people is the leading factor, the working conditions and living environment at Nghi Son oil chemical refinery project are paid much attention. There are accommodations with comforts for labourers, but not temporary tents like some other projects. There is also a canteen for all employees to have lunch so they donot have to go and have time for a short rest.

     According to Mr Tran Dinh Dai, the profession of Owner and Main Contractor affected labourers positively, it helped to ensure the schedule and quality of the project. For the efficiency of the work, LILAMA Corp. paid its member companies a flat rate for the work, then the companies paid their labourers a flat rate. Each week, the project board organized 2 training classes for the labourers to improve their qualifications, experience and having an overview or projects.

     At Lilama mechanical manufacturing workshop, many welders listened to the foreman to accumulate good experience. This work requires an engineers to work independently and speak English fluently. However, it is no problem because most of Lilama engineers now belongs to the young generation and using English is the prerequisite condition to participate in a project with foreign partners.

Le Xuan Thuy