Hu Junquan (2nd L), Karakorum Highway phase two project general manager, attends a donation ceremony in Mansehra, Pakistan, Aug. 22, 2017. China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) constructing the Karakorum Highway in north Pakistan has donated over 8.5 million Pakistani rupees (around 80,000 U.S. dollars) to an orphanage of the SOS Children's Villages in Mansehra to improve the orphans' lives. (Xinhua/Liu Tian)
ISLAMABAD, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese company constructing the Karakorum Highway in northern Pakistan has donated over 8.5 million Pakistani rupees (around 80,000 U.S. dollars) to an orphanage of the SOS Children's Villages in Mansehra to improve the orphans' lives.
The donation included funding to renew the orphanage's dormitories, which accounts for major part of the total amount, and living appliances such as water heaters, uninterruptible power systems and solar panels.
The orphanage, built in 1982, now adopts about 160 local children and its finance source mainly depends on donations from local community, but the amount of donation is very few due to Mansehra's remote location and poor economy, according to Khola Mustafa, a board member of the SOS Children's Village Pakistan.
"I'm very grateful for the donation from our Chinese friends. China is a time-tested friend of Pakistan," Mustafa told Xinhua Tuesday.
"The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is at the governmental level, but what the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) is doing is to help the country's orphans, the most vulnerable in the society. If they can help them build a future, it will further cement the Pakistan-China friendship."
The CRBC is the operator of the current Karakorum Highway phase two project under the CPEC.
Hu Junquan, the project's general manager, said the CRBC is not only to build roads in Pakistan, it also plays a role in improving friendship between the two countries by taking social responsibilities for the local community during their project.
According to Hu, the CRBC has already donated more than 1 million U.S. dollars in cash and goods since 2008 to help local Pakistanis overcome disasters, subsidize poverty-stricken students and build cricket fields, among others.
