Material Empire

Xutang Township, Xingchuan County, Yanning Province.

Xingchuan County is located in a hilly area in northern China. As early as the Ming Dynasty, this is an important iron ore producing area in the north. It has a history of ironmaking for hundreds of years. Since modern times, under the impact of large industries, traditional ironmaking methods have gradually withdrawn from the historical stage because of lack of cost competitiveness. After the liberation, the country established a large state-owned steel plant in Xingchuan County. Xingchuan County itself also established two medium-sized steel plants under the county, forming a set of fairly complete steel production system.

In recent years, as the steel market has been booming, various towns and private entrepreneurs in Xingchuan County have begun to pay attention to the fat meat of steel. In the mid-to-late 1990s, more than 30 small steel plants emerged in Xingchuan County. They recruited retired and serving workers and technicians from three large and medium-sized steel plants in Xingchuan. They used simple methods to produce steel, mainly supplying some surrounding Small and medium-sized construction enterprises.

In the new century, the supply and demand situation in the steel market has not eased, but has become more and more serious. This has provided more people with opportunities to enter the steel market. In just two years between 2000 and 2001, Xingchuan County added more than 100 steel mills, as well as the same number of coking plants, rolling mills, etc., forming a well-known steel production center.

It is estimated that, except for one large and medium-sized steel plant owned by one state and two counties, the small-scale steelmaking enterprises in Xingchuan County can produce not less than 10 million tons of steel a year, which is almost equivalent to the British steel output in the same period. . Based on the technology of the year, it is not unusual for a steel plant to produce 10 million tons of steel per year. However, the 10 million tons of steel in Xingchuan County is the total output of more than 100 steel mills. The output of the plant is less than 100,000 tons.

The iron and steel industry is the most focused on large-scale operations. Small-scale steel plants not only have high energy consumption and low production efficiency. Moreover, the utilization rate of ore and scrap steel is extremely low, and the pollution is extremely serious. Xutang Township is the most concentrated area of ​​small steel plants in Xingchuan County. When Qin Hai stood on a hilltop in Xutang Township and looked out. All he saw was a thick haze that was breathless.

"Since the previous year, this is what we have here. You can't see the sun at all."

Guo Qiushi, deputy director of Xingchuan County Government Office, stood beside Qin Hai and introduced the local situation to Qin Hai.

Xingchuan County is the first stop of Qin Hai ’s small steel management initiative. He chose this place because the small steel problem in Xingchuan County is the most prominent. Through the practice in this place, experience can be accumulated for the follow-up Provide guidelines for action. Of course, it is also because of the small steel in Xingchuan County. So being able to succeed here will have a deterrent effect on other regions.

Qin Hai came to the county government first with the capable team he formed. He broke into the office of Gao Xuejian, the head of the county, and showed a letter of introduction issued by the State Economic and Trade Commission, which frightened Gao Xuejian. In Xingchuan County, it is rare to receive several visits from central-level units throughout the year. A minister in the ministries and commissions is enough to keep the locals busy. In the introduction letter issued by Qin Hai, there were more than a dozen names of the ministries and commissions alone. The first page was hardly written.

I heard that Qin Hai himself was the deputy leader of this extremely scary working group. Gao Xuejian has a feeling of standing high in the mountains.

"When did Team Leader Qin come to Xingchuan County? Why didn't we let you know in advance, we got the National Highway Crossing to meet us anyway. By the way, Team Leader Qin hasn't been to the province. Why didn't anyone arrange in the province Come with the leader Qin. "Gao Xuejian asked Qin Hai and his party to sit down and asked timidly.

"Our governance action was organized directly by the central government and did not go through the provincial and municipal levels. We met directly with the grassroots, so before we came to Xingchuan, we did not say hello to your province or city. However, before the Economic and Trade Commission, A notice has been sent to various places explaining the operation. You must have received it? "Qin Hai said.

"Yes, yes. We have all received it." Gao Xuejian responded. The notice of the Economic and Trade Commission was issued to the provinces, and they were required to forward them to the cities and counties. Gao Xuejian remembered that the notice did say that the working group would work directly under the county. The province also emphasized the need for the counties to cooperate with the work team when forwarding the documents.

"Since the county chief has received the documents from the Economic and Trade Commission, our communication is simple." Qin Hai said. "Xingchuan County is the county with the most concentrated small iron and steel problems. The media has repeatedly exposed the small steel pollution problems in Xingchuan County. The phenomenon of small steel out of control in counties is out of control. As the head of a county, Gao County should know more about Xingchuan than we do? "

"Well ..." Gao Xuejian showed his heartache and said, "First of all, we must review our work. The small steel problem in Xingchuan County is indeed serious. Although the county has also taken positive measures and taken responsibility, The implementation of the method of entrusting people to the villages and towns has also closed down some of the polluted small factories to read the full text of Meimei. However, there is still a certain gap between the requirements of the state, which is a deficiency in our work. I asked Team Leader Qin to give harsh criticism. "

At first glance, what he said was reviewing and pondering, but it seemed that he was doing meritorious deeds. The work done in the county is called "take positive measures", and the existing problems are "some serious" and "there is a certain gap". If Qin Hai talks about him, I'm afraid he has to praise him for his good work. Already. It is a pity that Qin Hai did not do his homework before he arrived in Xingchuan County. He knew that Xingchuan County was very lazy in managing small steel, and the problem of small steel was far from "somewhat serious" but extreme. serious.

"County Gao, according to the information you have, how many small steel mills in Xingchuan County meet the mandatory shutdown standards stipulated by the Economic and Trade Commission?" Qin Hai asked directly, ignoring Gao Xuejian's sophistry.

"Probably ... a dozen, or maybe more than a dozen ..." Gao Xuejian branched out, watching the expression on Qin Hai's face.

"Are they more than twenty?" Qin Hai showed a mocking expression.

"It's not a secret, it's almost 40, considering its relatively small size." Gao Xuejian said.

"This should only be the number of one township in Xutang Township?" Qin Hai said.

"Leader Qin really knows everything!" Gao Xuejian was revealed, but his face didn't look ashamed. He extended his thumb to give Qin Hai a praise, and then said as if it was all right: "The number I just said is indeed true. It's a bit underestimated. Some small steel mills take the guerrilla approach with the county. Our staff goes down to check and they are temporarily shut down. As soon as our people leave, they start work again. In this way, when we count There will be some omissions. If you count these small factories, I am afraid there are seventy or eighty in the county. "

It has been crowded from a dozen to seventy or eighty, which is really difficult to build for higher education. Qin Hai knew in his heart that there were as many as 150 small steel mills in Xingchuan County to shut down. Gao Xuejian said half of this. However, Qin Hai didn't have time to talk to Gao Xuejian about these skins. He nodded and said, "There are seventy or eighty, indicating that the problem is still very serious. Mayor Gao, can you tell me why Xingchuan County is not Can curb the flood of small steel? "

"This problem is a long story to talk about." Gao Xuejian said, "Our place in Xingchuan has been extremely fierce since ancient times. The government has to do something, and the resistance encountered below is very large. The current people are not good at it. Then, if you do n’t, you will have a group incident that will affect social stability.

In addition, Xingchuan is located in the hilly mountains and has a small amount of arable land. The only resources are coal and iron. Farmers can only rely on steelmaking to make money if they want to get rid of poverty. On the one hand, we must implement national regulations, but on the other hand, we must also consider the issues of employment and poverty alleviation for farmers. Farmers finally started a steel plant. If we shut it down according to regulations, how can we solve the problem of eating for dozens of children?

We have made many reports to the province and the country, hoping to invest in some key projects in Xingchuan County to increase the income of the people in Xingchuan. If the country can invest in us ~ www.readwn.com ~ farmers can have other channels to obtain income, then we will have more initiative in governing small steel. "

"The mayor of Gao said that if the country did not invest in Xingchuan, Xingchuan would not be able to close these small steel plants. Is that so?" Qin Hai sneered. Gao Xuejian's tactics, however, are to use offense instead of defensive, and put the responsibility of condoning the overflow of small steel plants on the country. If you want to argue with him on this issue, you can only confuse the problem of the small steel plant in the end. Qin Hai is already very familiar with this trick, he will not follow the other party's routine at all.

"No, no, Captain Qin misunderstood." Gao Xuejian dare to admit, "I just mean that the farmers in Xingchuan are very poor, and we also hope that there will be some opportunities to help them increase their income and improve their lives. "

Qin Hai has already received the information he wanted, and he did not expect to be able to solve these problems through the consciousness of Gao Xuejian. He said to Gao Xuejian: "Let ’s go, Gao County. We plan to do some research in Xingchuan first. We will consider how to solve Xingchuan's problem and consider it after the investigation. Can Gao County provide us with some necessary Cooperate? "

"There is no problem at all." Gao Xuejian readily agreed, "I send Guo Qiushi, the deputy director of the government office, as a guide for you and arrange for the public security department to provide you with security." (To be continued)