In Dasherkandi village, located around the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, local children happily swam in the clean river under the scorching sun. Deng Mingze, deputy manager of the Dasherkandi Sewage Treatment Plant project, felt elated as he observed this scene. "Things were completely different before," explained the 33-year-old Chinese engineer from PowerChina Chengdu Engineering Corporation Limited, adding that untreated sewage went straight into the river, making it so dirty in the past. The Dasherkandi Sewage Treatment Plant, financed by the Export-Import Bank of China and constructed by HydroChina Corporation, a subsidiary of PowerChina, started operation in April 2022. It marked the first modern large-scale sewage treatment plant in Bangladesh, capable of providing modern sewerage services to approximately 5 million people in Dhaka. From then on, all water that flows into the river has been treated, making the river clear and visible to the naked eye, Deng said, citing that children frequently play in the area. However, the project was not without its challenges. During the busiest period of construction, Deng and his colleagues worked from 6 a.m. until late at night for nearly six months. As the saying goes, "no pain, no gain." Deng recalled that despite difficulties throughout the project, he became stronger mentally and more capable. "As young people, we should have adaptability, innovation and problem-solving skills while working on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects to demonstrate the positive spirit of the Chinese youth to the world," he stressed. In Keraniganj, on the outskirts of Dhaka, Zhang Yadong, an engineer from China Railway Group Limited, is working alongside his local colleagues on Bangladesh's largest BRI rail project. Zhang arrived in Bangladesh right after his graduation in 2016, and he vividly remembers his initial struggles. "The first difficulty I encountered was having a meeting with the quantity surveyor to discuss measurements independently. It took me a long time to communicate with him due to differences in our understanding of the measurements," he said, adding that "it was a small thing, but I was really nervous at the time." Using this experience as a foundation, Zhang has grown from an assistant economist to a commercial executive, working on key projects such as the 172-km Padma Bridge Rail Link Project that connects over 20 districts in Bangladesh.