My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 454: The great knight serves the country and the people

After all, such outstanding independent private entrepreneurs are truly rare.

Having money and ability is one thing, but the key is having the courage to take responsibility and the courage to act once you've "identified" the right direction.

This third point is extremely rare.

Especially at this crucial juncture where the policy and strategy are of paramount importance.

If you have a substantial financial foundation, it's not impossible to try this or that.

We're so poor now that we can't even open a foreign exchange letter of credit for auto parts.

One wrong step could lead to starvation.

People will starve to death.

For example, Wei Dong casually gave Director Zhu some pointers on how to operate a business center.

This is what any city's population will be familiar with thirty or forty years from now.

Even prefecture-level cities may be more familiar with it, because large cities already have countless commercial centers springing up everywhere, which may be overwhelming.

Small places often only have one or two such places, and these have remained unchanged for thirty or forty years.

I've seen it so many times that I know it by heart.

Next to the tax office compound is the central primary school, across the intersection is the city hospital, and next to it is the grain bureau.

This layout is standard in city centers in smaller places.

The fact that the other side is the traditional old street leading to the pier indicates that this area was the central district before liberation.

All new urban development plans revolve around this surrounding area.

Wei Dong, the security guard, is like a time-lapse video recording a surveillance camera, documenting the entire process of the neighborhood's changes over the past thirty or forty years.

He also took it for granted.

To put it simply, at the end of last year, the "Urban Master Plan" of Huhai had already determined to build a foreign-related community mainly for overseas people, foreign experts, compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

This will facilitate the arrangement of foreign investment in the construction of tourist hotels, trade centers, and consulates in Shanghai.

The architectural planning units in Shanghai are racking their brains to come up with a design plan.

However, it is clear that the landmark buildings that relevant mainland authorities are currently constructing to win awards are all in the Soviet style, and the construction of popular residential communities is still stuck in the Khrushchev era.

Wei Dong's high-rise residential building + small block plan is on a completely different level from theirs.

There is simply not enough capacity and experience to build a large international community.

Even experts can't do it.

Now, Shanghai is consciously or unconsciously focusing its attention on the Hong Kong business community in the Electronics Industrial Park Development Zone. The combination of hotels, office buildings, commercial centers, and luxury apartments is well-organized. The question is how well the actual construction will differ from the blueprints.

Now, the industrial land that Wei Dong mentioned is being transformed into a commercial center in a well-organized and gradual manner, even echoing the existing renovation and construction of factory residential buildings.

This is a real estate trick that most city dwellers will know about in twenty or thirty years.

This is truly refreshing.

A few days later, Director Zhu was asked to notify Wei Dong to attend a meeting in the city.

Surprisingly, quite a few of them were acquaintances!
He was from the Economic Commission, the First Ministry of Machine Building, the China National Automobile Corporation, and last year he went to Shangzhou to work in real estate, working in the financial and construction departments.

How did Wei Dong manage to reach such a level where he has so many acquaintances?
He was a little confused.

That's how it is in Beijing; there's not much difference between city-level, ministry-level, and national-level meetings, especially now that the boundaries are very blurred.

In the city, no matter what kind of work is being done, higher-level leaders are always invited to participate and provide guidance.

It's just across the street or a building.

For example, Pingjing TV Station was later renamed Brick TV Station, and the leaders of Brick TV Station were also leaders of the propaganda department.

During the institutional reform, the superior of the TV station was not the State Administration of Optoelectronics at that time. The Radio and Television Bureau was under the jurisdiction of the Fourth Ministry of the Ministry of Electronics Industry.

It is evident that the 1980s was a period of uncertainty and exploratory work, a stage where everything was in a rudimentary, makeshift stage.

It's rare to find someone in a related field who has overseas experience and is an expert.

When Wei Dong naturally claimed that he was apprenticed to someone from Hong Kong, he originally wanted to bring Qin Xiaomei along to chime in, but Director Zhu requested that the Hong Kong businessman temporarily step aside due to confidentiality regulations.

So we have to face it ourselves: "Let me briefly introduce some experiences of Hong Kong businessmen investing in the Jiangzhou area. We are struggling to resist, and the capitalists' offensive firepower is extremely fierce!"

He had been in contact with various parties in Beijing for almost a month and knew that it was safer to draw clear lines.

Sure enough, everyone was immediately invigorated just from hearing the opening.

Is it that dangerous?

"What is the purpose of our economic development zone? It's to revitalize the economy and promote people's livelihood. What is the purpose of capitalists investing? To make money, make money, and make money again! This is the difference we must keep in mind from the moment we set foot in Hong Kong and Europe and America for external study and inspection." This deep-rooted understanding of tax workers alone is enough to make everyone in the audience, dressed in Zhongshan suits and Lenin suits, applaud.

Although Comrade Xiao Rang is a representative of private enterprises, his awareness is indeed quite good.

“Our Jiangzhou Economic Development Zone is located in a farmland and village area in Jiangnan District. In the summer, you can hear the croaking of frogs. The idea is definitely to use newly built factories, buildings, and residential areas to drive the construction of the new urban area. However, the Hong Kong businessmen are not very interested. They only want the best and most prosperous location in the city center, and they are offering the temptation of 3 billion yuan in investment for this purpose!”

That's how Jiangzhou City sold Weidong into the real estate industry back then. I don't know what they reported to their superiors, but now they can finally say something. Everyone can see what's going on.

Everyone present must have gasped in astonishment that Jiangzhou City could attract 3 billion yuan like this!
Jiangzhou is already one of the top heavy industrial cities in the country, with an annual industrial output value of 4 billion yuan.

The current plan is for the city to package all state-owned enterprises, central enterprises, and third-tier factories in Jiangzhou and transfer them to Jiangzhou, which would only be worth about 3 billion yuan.

This Hong Kong businessman can invest 3 billion with just a few plots of land!
It's unbelievable just to think about it.

Of course, some people also asked why Hong Kong businessmen would catch a cold...

Wei Dong quickly explained that it was just a metaphor, meaning he wasn't interested.

He vaguely remembered that Hong Kong businessmen had acquired several large and impressive plots of land in Beijing. He wanted to be more explicit now, as a precaution, so that at least someone would know the general outline of the matter.

“There are definitely many Hong Kong and Taiwanese businessmen who boast and are mostly swindlers, but the ones I’ve met in Jiangzhou are all well-known billionaires, multi-billion dollar groups, and listed companies. This 3 billion can also be verified through the joint venture. So I’ll analyze how this 3 billion was invested and why it was invested…”

Regarding the format of the sharing session: "The construction cost of a 20-story hotel building is only 10 million, but the subsequent decoration, renovation, and various equipment will easily cost over 100 million. The operation of a four- or five-star hotel requires 300 to 500 million. The construction cost of a commercial center is also about tens of millions, but if it is to be fully open to the public and positioned as a high-end shopping center with a cinema, various restaurants, and a food street, an investment of 500 to 1 billion is normal..."

For government agencies with monthly salaries below 100 yuan, starting such a large joint venture as Pingjing Automobile Company required tightening their belts and actually didn't involve spending much cash; the total assets were only 50 million US dollars.

According to the official exchange rate, it is less than 200 million.

It's already a complete mess. It's said that it took the approval of six vice presidents from the institute to finalize the joint venture.

The way Hong Kong businessmen here talk about spending hundreds of millions on commercial centers is commonplace.

It really surprised everyone.

Fortunately, Wei Dong wasn't planning to make money: "In comparison, the investment in a 20-story office building is the lowest. With simple renovations, it can be rented out to various companies for office use, so it can be done for tens of millions. This is the model I recommended to Pingjing Automobile Manufacturing Plant."

"Correspondingly, if the residents on these plots are relocated to other places, shouldn't we also build buildings and residential houses? These investments should also be included. But Hong Kong businessmen will propose that if we build five buildings for resettlement, can we build ten buildings and sell five of them to them? In order to make money, the housing prices will be driven up. Remember, they can sell them for three to five thousand, or even tens of thousands of yuan per square meter."

Everyone once again gained a clear impression of the ruthlessness and viciousness of capitalists.

Because of the comparison: "We are now very skilled. The cost of a six- to eight-story brick-concrete building is 300 to 350 yuan per square meter, while a reinforced concrete high-rise with elevators of more than 20 stories costs about 500 yuan per square meter. In Shanghai and Beijing, it may be slightly more expensive by a few dozen yuan. We try our best to sell to employees and the public at the price of collective housing construction. On the contrary, the interest rate for mortgage installment loans will be increased to 30%, and the bank will make the profit."

Some people at the scene couldn't help but wonder, "Are banks making money like this?!"
Wei Dong didn't know what to say. It seems that he borrowed one million, but had to repay one million nine hundred thousand.

He definitely didn't take out a loan, but he'd heard complaints about it.

This interest rate was actually calculated on the spot by him and the banks in Shangzhou and Jiangzhou, and no one said it was wrong.

Someone defended him, saying, "If the bank makes money, it's the country that makes money. And the interest rate... a 20-year repayment period seems a bit low."

Wei Dong still wanted to try and persuade her: "But stability..."

As soon as the words left his mouth, he wanted to slap himself!

Anyway, you could see it on site; everyone related to banks was excited.

Why is it that mortgage loan plans in Shangzhou and Jiangzhou are so easy to negotiate with banks?

These days, banks lend money to all sorts of entities every year, and the amount of bad debts and non-performing loans that they can't recover is astronomical.

In the past few years, private enterprises were not allowed in most industries. Anything outside the plan was considered speculation and profiteering. So now, except for a very few places, the private economy is far from taking shape.

Local state-owned enterprises and local branches of commercial banks are all part of the local government system. Even the appointment and removal of bank executives are controlled by the local government. Therefore, bank loans are directly regarded as a "second treasury".

This has led to the fact that most loans at this time do not go through the process of customer application and bank review, but are directly requested by local governments and people with connections within the system.

As for repaying the money, don't you think it's too vulgar for a family to talk about repaying the money?

Later, when a large private enterprise finally wanted a loan, it was more effective to get together with bank loan officers, have a good meal and drinks, and have some fun with them at night, rather than going through the proper procedures. After a few drinks, when they were tipsy and had been properly bribed, they would open their briefcases, grab their seals, and start signing contracts.

Wei Dong, feeling a bit uneasy, quickly revealed the truth: "Real estate loans are indeed the most stable, but when we promoted the sale of commercial housing in Shangzhou, we discovered a consequence: banks preferred to lend to real estate companies, but made excuses for various production and business enterprises."

The atmosphere, which had just begun to heat up, was suddenly dampened as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over it.

Countless business owners have complained to the tax system about this situation: banks won't lend to us, but you still come to collect taxes, leaving us caught in the middle.

The consequences are causing headaches for the tax system.

Wei Dong had no choice but to stick to his conscience and tell the truth: "In the end, banks have plenty of money. The most profitable entities every year are banks and real estate, but it is becoming increasingly difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in production and manufacturing. This runs counter to our fundamental idea of ​​developing productivity."

This is common knowledge now, right?

Now, everyone is looking at this young man in his early twenties and nodding deeply.

It's like watching a young swordsman, stunning the martial arts world.

(End of this chapter)