amaotonovel Chapter 423 Blatant! To win, you have to use any means necessary!
Chapter 423 Blatant! To win, you have to use any means necessary!
Liao Chenxi's eyes lit up.
"Yes! You're absolutely right!"
"If Zhao Ruilong can invest in building high-speed rail, then of course people from Sakura can too!"
"Anyway, his Huilong Group was registered in Hong Kong, so strictly speaking, it is also a foreign-invested enterprise."
"Since the Railway Administration has allowed Zhao Ruilong to invest in building the Yanhu High-speed Railway, there is obviously no reason for them to refuse the investment of the Sakura people in building the Yansheng High-speed Railway, right?"
Ge Junshan smiled confidently:
"Of course they won't refuse!"
“I know those people at the Railway Administration very well.”
"Especially that Liu Zhiheng, he's a true high-speed rail fanatic!"
"His proposed 'eight vertical and eight horizontal' high-speed rail plan has a total length of nearly 50,000 kilometers, basically covering the major regions of the country."
"How much money would it cost to complete such a grand plan? Even if the average cost per kilometer is tens of millions, it would still require four trillion!"
Ge Junshan extended his right hand, tucking in his thumb, and gestured with his other four fingers.
"Four trillion! Four trillion, Xiao Liao!"
"Last year, the total investment in railways in our country was only over 60 billion yuan."
"Even if all the money were used to build a high-speed rail line, with this level of investment, it would take decades to complete the project!"
Liao Chenxi laughed heartily.
"Decades? Liu Zhiheng should be buried long ago!"
After putting his hand down, Ge Junshan chuckled and said, "So this guy is quite clever. He knows that unless there are serious economic difficulties and the government doesn't loosen its grip on infrastructure investment to stimulate the economy, it will be difficult for him to realize his high-speed rail dream."
"Since Handong wants to vigorously develop the high-speed rail industry and is eager to realize its high-speed rail dream, the two sides hit it off and agreed to allow social capital to invest in and participate in the construction of high-speed rail, but the shareholding ratio in the project cannot exceed 50%."
"In this way, the Railway Administration not only solved the funding needs, but also maintained control over the project, ensuring that the railway, an important sector related to the national economy and people's livelihood, remained state-owned and did not cross the red line."
"As for Zhao Ruilong... he put all his effort into bringing back money from abroad to invest, not to make money, but purely to help his father Zhao Lichun achieve outstanding political achievements so that he could advance his career. So he was naturally generous when it came to spending money."
"The first phase of the Yanhu High-speed Railway, from Jingzhou to Tianhai, has already begun joint commissioning and testing. Even with the most meticulous approach, three or four months is enough time. It's practically a done deal that it will open for operation before the end of the year."
"Once it opens, Handong's manufacturing industry will be able to connect with Tianhai's finance and foreign trade, making economic and trade exchanges between the two places even closer. Won't the GDP take off? Next year, it will definitely surpass Dongguang to become the number one economic province in our country!"
"Yeah! But we can't be envious of that!"
Liao Chenxi got up with a smile and brought over a fruit platter.
"Regardless of whether Handong will surpass Dongguang, Zhao Ruilong has already set a successful precedent for us, so let's just follow suit and do it the same way!"
"If we can launch a wave of high-speed rail construction, it will definitely boost economic growth significantly, which can be considered a revitalization of our Northeast!"
"Moreover, besides high-speed rail, I think we can also follow the example of Handong and allow private capital to participate in other infrastructure projects, such as our expressways."
"Back then, the highway from Shengyang to Dalian was built earlier than the one from Jingzhou to Tianhai. After it was completed, the traffic volume continued to rise, and we had to expand it."
"But when it comes to expansion, they allowed private capital to participate, quickly solved the funding problem, and the construction progressed rapidly. Now they are all completed and open to traffic. What about us?"
"We've been planning this for over two years, and we only held the groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion and renovation project last month. Even if everything goes smoothly, this expansion project, which will go from four to eight kilometres, won't be completed until 2004."
"Moreover, Handong didn't just expand and upgrade one expressway; they expanded many others at the same time and tendered for the construction of several new ones. They really did what we did in ten years!"
At this point, Liao Chenxi picked up a large, red lychee.
"I've thought about this carefully. Why is the economy of Ningyuan Province so sluggish, unlike the vibrant economy of Handong Province?"
"I think the main reason is that even though it's the 21st century and a new era, our thinking is still very rigid."
"Over the past few decades, government agencies and state-owned enterprises have solved most of the people's problems such as employment, education, medical care, and old age. People have become accustomed to the collective life under the planned economy, where they had nothing to worry about."
“But times have changed. We are moving towards a socialist market economy. Enterprises and institutions don’t need so many people, nor can they support so many people. So, we have to let ordinary people support themselves.”
"But how can ordinary people support themselves? I think the experience gained from the pilot program of high-quality economic development in Handong Province is that state-owned enterprises should withdraw and private enterprises should advance, market vitality should be stimulated, and the private economy should be developed!"
"Take transportation as an example. Everyone knows that to get rich, you must first build roads. But the government can't afford to spend too much money, while economic development requires better transportation conditions. So shouldn't we appropriately relax the restrictions and let social capital invest and operate?"
"Moreover, some people in the private sector have already become rich. They don't have many investment channels, so they can only deposit their money in banks to earn interest. If we can stimulate their investment enthusiasm, how can the private economy not thrive?"
After saying that, Liao Chenxi peeled the top half of the lychee and handed it to Ge Junshan with a smile.
Ge Junshan took the lychee and took a small bite.
It's icy sweet and refreshing, very pleasant.
"The lychees are good, and your idea is pretty good too."
“Since vigorously developing the private economy is a good policy that Handong has tested, there is nothing wrong with us following suit.”
"Moreover, in order to achieve better results faster, we can even be bolder and move even faster!"
Liao Chenxi moved closer, her face full of fawning smiles.
"what do you mean?"
Ge Junshan ate the rest of the lychee in one bite, chewed it a few times, and then spat out the pit.
"Handong has implemented a lot of policies on the withdrawal of state-owned enterprises from private enterprises. In addition to the highway construction you mentioned, social capital has been widely involved in many infrastructure fields such as water conservancy, shipping, power, and communications."
"They even allow military and private enterprises to cooperate under the framework of military-civilian integration strategy to develop civilian and military products. For example, many military enterprises are involved in the booming new energy vehicle market."
Liao Chenxi said with a big smile, "I understand. You mean if Handong can do it, we can do it too. We may not know how to do the problems ourselves, but surely we can copy homework?"
Ge Junshan shook his head slightly.
"You can't just copy all of Handong's homework!"
"Zhao Lichun has his beloved son's Huilong Group, which seems to give him endless money to invest recklessly and set an example. Do you have that?"
Liao Chenxi shook her head decisively.
"If my son could be as capable as him, I wouldn't have to worry about not having the money to do many important projects!"
Ge Junshan casually asked a question in return.
"Isn't your son pretty good at making money?"
"..."
Liao Chenxi was instantly struck dumb, feeling extremely embarrassed.
In less than a second, his face turned red with embarrassment, and he felt utterly ashamed.
Ge Junshan smiled and reached out to pick up the lychee.
"Alright, just kidding. Let him keep a low profile. Let's get back to the main topic!"
"You want to copy Handong's homework? No problem. But if we want to revitalize Northeast China but can't allocate large sums of money, then we have to let you try boldly!"
"However, Handong has always had excellent natural conditions, and under the governance of Zhao Lichun, a reformist who dares to think and act, its economy has been developing rapidly for many years."
"In addition, his son Zhao Ruilong has continuously siphoned off three to four hundred billion US dollars from abroad and invested heavily in high-tech industries, so he is even less short of money."
"If you want to copy someone else's homework but can't find a huge source of funding, you can only resort to more radical and daring policy measures in certain areas, such as education!"
"educate?"
Liao Chenxi looked puzzled.
After thinking it over and over, he scratched his head and asked:
"Are you trying to get me to make money through education? The current tuition and fees are already unaffordable for many low-income families. You won't make much money through education!"
Ge Junshan, who was peeling lychees, rolled his eyes.
"Did I ask you to make money?"
"How could I not know that many families are worried about tuition fees as the start of the school year approaches?"
"I know that economic difficulties are hindering the improvement of compulsory education enrollment rates in the vast central and western regions!"
"I'm telling you to boldly promote private sector reform in education, to marketize education and turn it into a huge industry, then you'll make money, right?"
Seeing that Liao Chenxi still looked puzzled, Ge Junshan immediately became furious.
"I've made myself so clear, don't you understand?"
"Handong has Zhao Ruilong, their god of wealth, who's throwing money around like crazy. You don't have that, so what are you going to do?"
"If we want to make money from ordinary people, we definitely can't do it through healthcare. People are already deeply resentful because it's difficult and expensive to see a doctor."
"And what about housing? With the overall economy not going up, land and housing prices are not rising, so real estate developers are not very motivated, and you can't make much money by selling land."
"The only thing we can do is education! Because of all other professions, only studying is noble. Our nation has always been willing to spend money on education!"
Seeing Liao Chenxi's still blank expression, Ge Junshan was so angry that he wanted to call him a good-for-nothing.
Why is my brain so stupid?
However, if they weren't slow-witted, the exceptionally intelligent reformers wouldn't have followed him.
With a sigh, Ge Junshan could only patiently explain:
"What I mean is, turning education into a business, you understand?"
"Since it's a business, to make money, you have to create differentiated demand and introduce market competition mechanisms to achieve profitability."
"For example, if there is a well-regarded public elementary school, many parents want their children to attend it. Can't this demand be used to make money?"
“The traditional method is to directly collect school construction fees and enrollment fees from parents, but this method is too slow and yields too little money, and it is easily divided up by the people below.”
“You designate an area and say that any child with a household registration in that area can enroll in school. It doesn’t matter if they don’t have a household registration yet, as long as they buy a commercial property, they can register their household registration.”
"Think about it, in order for their children to attend good schools, can parents not spend money to buy a house? And if they don't have enough money, it doesn't matter, they can get a mortgage loan from the bank and take out a loan for twenty or thirty years."
Upon hearing Ge Junshan's words, Liao Chenxi instantly realized what was happening.
There was a snap.
Liao Chenxi slapped her thigh suddenly.
"Old Ge, you're really amazing!"
"That move of 'creating something from nothing' is truly amazing!"
"With more people buying houses, it's impossible for housing and land prices not to rise!"
Ge Junshan chuckled softly.
Remove the pit from the lychee and put it in your mouth to chew.
"Is that impressive?"
"If you're smart enough, you'll know to sell more land at higher prices, instead of limiting yourself to just one area."
"It would be best to restrict school enrollment based on household registration in all cities, while simultaneously reducing investment in rural schools, or even shutting down some schools."
"Once high-quality educational resources are concentrated in towns and cities, parents will have no choice but to buy houses in towns and cities so that their children can attend school, and then the demand will come, right?"