The Industrial Giant Reborn

At the Third Ring Road in the northeast of Yanjing, a huge construction site is busy under construction. A large number of construction machinery are operating in an orderly manner. At the same time, thousands of workers are also doing their own things. The entire construction site, Very different from other places.

"It seems that all other construction sites here have stopped?" Liu Xiaoli said while looking at the area beside the car.

Some of them came to Yanjing International Trade Center today to take a look at the construction progress. This large project, with an investment amount second only to the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan Expressway, started construction last year, and is also being followed up by Hutchison Whampoa's professional team. Zhou Jia Yang has also been here a few times, but Chen Zhiwen has not been here since the start of construction. This time he came to Yanjing for many important things, so he naturally took a day to come here.

"I guess investment has been overheated in the past two years!" Chen Zhiwen also looked at several construction sites around the International Trade Center. Compared with the International Trade Center, although the scale itself is far smaller, the difference is huge. Inside the construction site There was almost no movement, and no equipment was running. It was a bit unnaturally quiet.

Although the domestic economy has been developing very well in the past few years, especially in Shenhai City, it can be said that it is the same every year. Other domestic big cities, especially those with a lot of foreign trade and economics, have also followed suit, and a large number of new buildings have begun to be constructed. , but this was far beyond the scope of domestic finances, so investment began to cool down again.

"Mr. Chen is right. The central government has issued an order this year to strictly control investment, including in industry." said a man in his 40s who was following Chen Zhiwen and others.

"Industrial investment also needs to cool down?" Chen Zhiwen asked curiously. Even when I went to climb the Great Wall two days ago, I was arranged to be accompanied by a director of the Tourism Bureau. Today, I came here on business, so naturally there were people following me. The person in front of me was a deputy director of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, surnamed Zhang.

"Yes, many local factories produce the same product on a large scale at the same time. Everyone likes to make money, especially many of them have also applied for foreign exchange. This not only caused overcapacity, but also caused foreign exchange losses. Therefore, , just like civil engineering, proper control has begun." Director Zhang explained that although he is from housing construction, in Yanjing City, some major events that happen in the country basically have a certain position and a certain relationship here. Everyone will know.

And his relationship is not ordinary, otherwise he would not have been sent to accompany Hong Kong's super rich Chen Zhiwen.

Maybe it's because those who accompanied him a few days ago were all older leaders in the department, but they were all older and couldn't talk to Chen Zhiwen, so today I sent a relatively younger one, but he couldn't be too young, just in case. If you are inexperienced and say the wrong thing to offend someone, it will be embarrassing.

"Well, if you are short of money for construction projects around here, you can go to Hutchison Whampoa, and we can also invest." Chen Zhiwen said casually.

The International Trade Center will be the most prosperous commercial area in the future. It can even be said that this area near the Northeast Third Ring Road of Yanjing will become the center of the CBD in the future. It is precisely because the International Trade Center is here that the earliest International Trade Center will be built. Other CBD office buildings are also built nearby.

Based on my current situation, I wouldn't go to China to negotiate specifically for the land nearby. If I had to come forward, it would usually have to be a very large project, but it doesn't matter if I just invest in it when the other party has no money. .

"That's good, all these projects can be started." Director Zhang said with a smile.

Domestic suppression of overheated investment is targeted internally, because most projects do not start after they have money. Instead, they use future earnings as collateral to apply for funds from higher authorities or banks, similar to the model in Hong Kong or abroad. , and then return it after it is completed. This is true whether it is a civil engineering project or a factory. The difference is that the factory may also involve foreign exchange.

With this model, if everything goes well and the future returns are considerable, then it's great, but if something goes wrong, it may cause big financial or bank problems.

At present, many cities, especially those with more foreign involvement, have adopted this model to develop rapidly and learn from Shenhai City. However, Shenhai City has Hong Kong nearby and a large number of relocated factories. The income is stable and considerable, which is not necessarily the case in other cities.

When the above problem was discovered, they began to rectify it. However, foreign investment had no impact at all, because the funds for foreign investment came from overseas and could even bring foreign exchange, tax revenue, and employment to the country, which actually helped the domestic economy. Therefore, the nearby International Trade Center is still under construction in a hurry. In order to speed up the progress, workers who have stopped working nearby have been called over, which can be regarded as helping the Yanjing Municipal Government solve part of the employment problem.

If the buildings near the International Trade Center are invested by Hong Kong capital, the central government will not control it, and will even encourage it. No one will refuse foreign exchange without other special conditions.

"Director Zhang, I will send someone to visit you tomorrow." Yang from the Zhou family on the side also said.

If we cooperate with domestic companies to do some projects, such as super-large ones such as highways or the International Trade Center, then there is no problem for him to come forward. But if it is just some small cooperation and the funds involved are not very large, then he will not participate too much. , over the years, Hutchison Whampoa has invested in several large projects arranged by Chen Zhiwen in the mainland, as well as many small ones. These are all cooperation with local companies that the company feels is suitable. For small projects, the boss basically does not care about them. You have certain decision-making rights, but you will organize them every period of time to facilitate the review of the headquarters office or a third-party audit company.

"Okay, I will prepare this information today." Director Zhang said quickly. These information are actually available normally, but an extra copy needs to be compiled to facilitate discussions with foreign investors on how to cooperate tomorrow. After the client is finished, he can just go back and arrange for someone to do the work.

"Has the progress of the International Trade Center been completed as scheduled?" Chen Zhiwen asked again. The most important thing is the International Trade Center. The one in front of us is twice as big as the original one in history. It is only the first phase. After completion, The construction area is 270,000 square meters, which is 2 million square feet more than the total area of ​​the next two phases of Exchange Square owned by Hong Kong Land.

That is to say, only in Yanjing City, which has just begun to develop its economy, can there be such a large area of ​​land. If you want to get such a large land in Hong Kong, or in the future Yanjing, Shanghai or even deep sea, no matter how rich you are, it is impossible. .

"Mr. Chen, Mr. Zhou, the interior of this construction site is quite messy and dirty. Considering safety factors, it's better not to go in. How about we just walk around the outside of the building and I can introduce it to you?" Director Zhang said again.

Even if we know that Chen Zhiwen and others are coming, it is almost impossible to keep a huge construction base in order. In addition, the construction period is also very tight. Once it stops, the impact will be greater, so we can only Probably improved a bit. But the best way is not to let distinguished guests in, just look around.

"Okay, let's just walk around the perimeter." Chen Zhiwen nodded and agreed. After staying in Hong Kong for so many years, he has become the largest property owner in Hong Kong, but he has never entered a construction site.

One is that it’s unnecessary. He won’t be able to understand the structure inside even if he goes in. The second is to consider safety. Although the probability of problems is very low, there is no need to seek trouble. The current construction site and the future have a lot to do with safety. Investment is completely different, especially in the mainland. There is no experience in building super buildings before, and there are almost no safety facilities for operations at ultra-high heights. Fortunately, the real estate economy in Hong Kong is sluggish, so Hutchison Whampoa started from Hong Kong has brought a complete set of facilities and many experienced masters.

But no matter what, it is still far behind the team of skilled workers in Hong Kong, and even Hong Kong is not as good as later generations. Just a communication problem cannot be overcome. There will be mobile phones in the future, but not now. , even walkie-talkies are only owned by a few leaders.

Since he started working in the real estate industry in Hong Kong, Chen Zhiwen has deliberately spent a lot of money on the safety of construction employees, even if they are not his direct employees. However, no matter what, it is unlikely to achieve zero accidents.

He himself can only try his best to keep himself safe. It is safest not to enter the construction site. Anyway, there are many professional people responsible for the quality of the construction. When the house is almost built, he can take a look at it himself.

"Please come this way." Director Zhang pointed in a direction, and a group of people circled the entire construction site and made a circle outside. The construction site is very large, and it would take a lot of time for several people to circle around it, but the Great Wall is After crawling, I no longer care about walking.

Director Zhang acted as a lecturer, introducing each building to Chen Zhiwen and others one by one. From time to time, Zhou Jiayang can also say a few words.

Although the entire project was officially started last year after Chen Zhiwen's approval and signature, he had forgotten a lot. At that time, it was just a floor plan. Now that it is on site, the feeling is still different. It's just a pity. At present, the foundation is just in place, and less than ten floors have been built above it, so the grandeur within it cannot be felt.

The first phase of the International Trade Center project includes a large conference center, three office buildings with more than 50 floors, plus a five-star hotel with various entertainment facilities, and a large cinema inside.

The original intention of the International Trade Center project was to receive high-level overseas business people and hold large-scale business meetings. Those who can come here are either rich or noble, even in China.

This is one of the reasons why the mainland government wants to promote this project, not only because having a large conference venue will be more convenient for overseas investors and promote foreign cooperation in Yanjing and even the whole country, but also because the project itself can also earn foreign exchange. , if it were not for the high cost of building such a comprehensive business, hotel, and entertainment complex, and there is no domestic experience in this area, then it is estimated that it will not be the turn of outsiders.

The group of people walked and chatted, and it took about half an hour to cover more than half of the entire International Trade Center Phase I construction site, and they would soon arrive at the place where they started.

Suddenly, a burst of fragrance wafted over from nowhere.