Towering achievement aims to boost tourism

The 208meter Pearl of the Northern Frontier tower is a new landmark in Manzhouli.

The 208-meter Pearl of the Northern Frontier tower is a new landmark in Manzhouli.

In the early morning of Nov 30,when the temperature was below-20 C in the border city of Manzhouli in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region,hundreds of people were waiting near a construction site to witness an engineering miracle.

The crowd's eyes were fixed on a tower measuring about 150 meters in height.At 7:30 am,a gigantic cylinder-shaped steel structure said to weigh 1,350 metric tons,rose slowly up the tower with the help of a heavy-duty crane.The structure was finally placed at the top of the tower.

The huge steel cylinder is to be a revolving restaurant on top of the Pearl of Northern Frontier tower,a new landmark in the city of Manzhouli that is close to the China-Russia border.

The tower is being built by Shanxi Construction Investment Group,one of the leading civil engineering companies in Shanxi province.

"We have been working on the Pearl of Northern Frontier for more than 500 days and today is the most exciting moment,"said Liu Kegong,a SCIG manager responsible for the construction project.

"We are capable of lifting a steel structure with a weight of 7,000 tons to designated positions.But it is the first time we've put such a huge revolving restaurant at a height of more than 150 meters,"Liu said.

"Despite all the difficulties,we were fully prepared for the mission and we made it."

Situated in an area that neighbors Russia and Mongolia,the Pearl of Northern Frontier is the highest tower in China's border regions.

The Pearl of Northern Frontier will be a major tourist attraction in the border city,said Wang Zejun,an executive of tower owner and operator Manzhouli Land Port Tourism Group.It will combine catering,sightseeing,relaxation,recreation and shopping.

With a total investment of 180 million yuan($27.5 million),the 25-story tower has a total floor space of 19,143 square meters.

To ensure the success of the project,SCIG has used 15 patented technologies during construction,including super-large structure lifting and welding in extremely low temperature.

Construction on the Pearl of Northern Frontier tower is scheduled to be complete in 2021.

Guo Yanjie and Wang Ye contributed to this story.

By YUAN SHENGGAO