Workers play basketball outside their dormitory at the future Hongqiao transport hub in Shanghai on Thursday, December 11, 2008. The dorm buildings cover 40,000 square meters and will accommodate 15,000 workers. [Photo: Shanghai Daily]

The thousands of migrant workers toiling away at the future Hongqiao transport hub are luckier than their millions of counterparts as they now have much-improved living facilities at their construction sites in Shanghai.

The No. 7 Branch of Shanghai Construction Group, one of the operators of the project, has completed 33 new dorm buildings, covering an area of 40,000 square meters, since this June, and more than 3,000 workers have moved in.

The migrants are building the terminal facilities for the Shanghai-Beijing express railway, which will be part of the future transport hub in Hongqiao area.

Nearly 15,000 workers have been hired by different companies since June. They will be working in the city until 2010 to complete the work for the express train line and bus stations, plus new Metro stations and transfer connections to Hongqiao Airport.

Efforts have been made to make them feel more at ease after work.

"A dorm unit is shared by seven workers and they each have a closet of their own. We have provided three electric fans in each unit to help with ventilation and deal with summer heat," said Diao Minghao, an official with Shanghai Construction Group.

Construction workers usually live in basic temporary sheds with no personal closet for their belongings.

"Many construction workers complained they had difficulties in recharging their mobile phones at their previous work sites and we have solved the problem by providing charge sockets in every new dorm unit," Diao said.

Because of fire concerns, most old dorm units for construction workers do not have power sockets so workers have to go outside to find phone booths to make calls home if their cell phones have no power.

A dedicated phone charger room has also been set up on the construction sites.

Power supply to the dorm units is only activated after the workers get off work to cut the chance of accidents.

Open basketball and badminton courts have also been built outside the dorm area to allow workers to take exercise.

Experts and professionals have been invited to hold lectures to teach subjects such as electrical engineering skills, health care and legal issues during the evenings. These have been especially welcomed by the younger workers, said the company.

There are 4 million migrant workers in Shanghai. Almost all construction workers in the city come from rural areas.

"I have worked in four other construction sites before and the current one provides the best living conditions," said a worker, surnamed Zhang, from Anhui Province. "It has begun to feel a bit like home after getting back to the dorm."

Workers on the construction site of the Hongqiao transport hub mostly come from Anhui and Sichuan provinces.