The Industrial Giant Reborn

The so-called suitable price naturally refers to the vicinity of the Kowloon Peninsula. Even if it is farther away from the sea, the total distance is only a few kilometers. In addition, there are a large number of people nearby. It is easy to recruit people, and you can basically quickly enter a new development state. , and more importantly, the value of this location is higher, even if it is an industrial land, it will be worth a lot after more than ten years.

As for Yuen Long, under the management of MacLehose, it did get a lot of development in the late 1970s. The main reason is that the housing prices on both sides of Victoria Harbor have risen too much. Under the long-term guidance of the government In addition to the opening of highways and subways, the popularity of Yuen Long also reached a very high level in the 1980s. If the Midea Industrial Park is added, it may be even better than in history.

But now it’s really not working there. I can’t say that there are no people, but there are not many people. They are all aboriginals, or a small number of workers. There is no industry, no economy, and only a little industry. It is completely free-range by the government. model.

MacLehose had already prepared, and said with a smile: "Sheng Chen doesn't have to worry about the infrastructure. Since the Hong Kong government is planning to build a new town, the investment in this area will naturally not be small. We will build a direct link between Kwai Chung Ferry Terminal and Kowloon in Yuen Long." There will also be a certain amount of investment in the roads of the town, including people's livelihood. There will be no shortage of hospitals, firefighters, and schools to ensure that a large number of people can live and work in Yuen Long. If you add Chen Sheng's industrial park, you can Provide tens of thousands of jobs, I think Yuen Long Town will be successful, once successful, Chen Sheng's personnel needs will naturally not be a problem."

Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said: "Mr. Governor, there is a certain priority here. Any international company is interested in the existing supporting measures, and then invests, rather than saying that after investment, they will develop together and complete the supporting measures. No enterprise Obliged to cooperate with the development of the underworld."

Except for the state-owned enterprises in the mainland, this is basically established. When a large enterprise invests in a certain place to build a factory, it must look at the industrial chain and related logistics, water and electricity supporting measures. These things are not available. I hope that when a large enterprise invests, it will help you. Get it, that's basically daydreaming.

There are also a few special investments that have this kind of situation, such as German Volkswagen investing in China, but there are certain reasons behind this, and even so, it took many years to localize the industrial chain. Even in the 21st century, many of Volkswagen’s core Parts still enter the country through CKD (imported from overseas), which is even far less localized than Tesla.

"As a Hong Konger, Chen Sheng doesn't want to make a contribution to Hong Kong's economic development? Besides, Chen Sheng also knows that you are about to become a Justice of the Peace next year." MacLehose said with a smile.

"It is natural to make contributions. There are many ways to make contributions. My charitable fund invests in the field of education. If necessary, I can also invest in other areas. The industries under my umbrella still provide tens of thousands of jobs for Hong Kong. Contribution is contribution, and business is business. If for this reason, I choose to invest more money in Hong Kong to build factories, it will only lead to my products being at a disadvantage in international competition. Defeat, the loss outweighs the gain." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said.

In fact, Chen Zhiwen's investment is basically an assembly plant or the like, but the technology content is a little higher, and the profit is quite high. There is actually no hard requirement on where to put it, but no matter what, the British ghost must bleed. just work.

"Then let's talk directly, Chen Sheng, how is he willing to put this industrial park in Yuen Long?" MacLehose asked directly.

Chen Zhiwen said: "Well, Mr. Governor, if it is placed in Yuen Long, I need a larger area, about 6 million square feet, all for free."

"This is impossible. There has never been such a thing in Hong Kong's history." MacLehose said hastily, "Such a large area is free of charge. Let alone me, the Lands Department will not agree."

"Mr. Governor, I can assure you that these lands will not be wasted, and factories will be built on them. Every piece of free land will bring employment and stable tax revenue to the future of the Hong Kong government. If this piece of land is free, then The price of the nearby land will double, and the Land Administration will have higher income. This most basic cooperation model is universal." Chen Zhiwen said lightly: "And as I said, I compared , compared with other places, Wanwan is free land, Hong Kong, if it is placed in Kowloon, I can consider buying land at a certain price, but in Yuen Long, this is my condition.”

When it's time to be tough, naturally you have to be tough. Although I don't look down on Yuen Long, MacLehose and others don't know that the free land policy in Wanwan South Korea is not weak for capitalists. Naturally, it can put a certain amount of pressure on the Hong Kong government.

"I have seen the list of industries submitted by Midea, which also includes the shoe industry. In the next five years, the export of sports shoes will exceed 1 million pairs? Can Chen Sheng guarantee this?" MacLehose asked suddenly.

"Of course, as soon as the new industrial park is approved, I will immediately build a factory with a production capacity of more than 2 million pairs." Chen Zhiwen said confidently.

Nike's development speed is faster than Wal-Mart's. Wal-Mart needs to build its own stores, but Nike doesn't need it. They just need to find franchisees. In the next ten years, Wal-Mart's annual turnover growth rate will be about 40%. %, while Nike is 80%. It seems that the difference is not too big, but looking at the five-year gap, Wal-Mart has doubled by 5 times, and Nike has doubled by 18 times. Millions of double production capacity is actually an underestimation.

Therefore, the Nike foundry in Hong Kong naturally needs to make the greatest preparations and set the production capacity to the maximum, but it is estimated that it may be necessary to build a new factory in four or five years.

But this will be discussed later, after all, even if we know the future, it is not possible to build the peak production capacity in the future at once, right? It is almost enough to plan for the next 5-7 years, and it is impossible to meet the personnel alone.

"In that case, I need some time to discuss it with other people. Chen Sheng, what you said is very reasonable. Enterprise investment is based on horizontal comparison, but Hong Kong's situation also has its special features. Free land acquisition is the first of its kind. How about the impact? I still need to judge, so how about I give you an answer after New Year's Day next year?" MacLehose said.

"Okay, then I'll wait for the good news from Mr. Governor of Hong Kong." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. In Hong Kong, it is indeed a taboo to get land for free. After all, the main source of Hong Kong's fiscal revenue is land sales. That is to say, MacLehose cares more about the economy and industry, so he has a certain basis for discussion.

But having said that, Chen Zhiwen's request is actually not too much. Which country does not welcome such high-quality output, stable tax revenue, large employment opportunities and no pollution? If the scale is larger, or the technology content is higher, such as the automobile industry, how many countries pay people to invest in it.

When Foxconn invests in the country, which province will give land and a lot of tax incentives, etc. Considering that the culture and language of Hong Kong people are similar to those of the southern provinces in the mainland, when the industry transfers in the future, there will be a large number of mature workers here. And engineers can be easily sent to the mainland to serve as the backbone of the entire industrial chain. At the same time, as a Hong Kong citizen, I naturally hope that Hong Kong will be better.

"Mr. Governor, there is one more thing I want to discuss with you. That is the piece of land under Hutchison Whampoa in Hung Hom. I want to transfer from industry to business. The Hong Kong government has been talking to us for several months. How about Let's decide today." Chen Zhiwen continued.

"I've heard about this. The price given by the Lands Department is HK$480 million. This price is actually the market price." MacLehose thought for a while and said, "There are already dozens of industrial and commercial companies in Hong Kong. With a history of more than 20 years, it can be regarded as an important policy to maintain Hong Kong's real estate prices. Compared with the approval of industrial land, I am more unlikely to compromise on this."

"It's not about making concessions. Appropriate discounts shouldn't be a problem." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said, "Hong Kong's economy is not good now, and the real estate market is a little better. Many people are still waiting and watching, and a large number of young people are also interested In terms of unemployment, even if my Midea Industrial Park can start construction immediately, it will take at least half a year to stabilize production. Moreover, an industrial park cannot absorb many jobs. The main employment in Hong Kong is still the construction industry.

Hutchison intends to build a large residential complex in Hung Hom, which can accommodate at least 50,000 people. This will not only solve the employment problem of a large number of construction workers, but also reduce the housing problem in Kowloon. After all, the housing price in Hung Hom is definitely higher than that on Hong Kong Island. It is much lower, and with the Submarine Tunnel and the future MTR, many people will definitely move from Hong Kong Island. Isn’t this the best of both worlds?

But there are too many investments involved. The price of industrial transfer and subsequent construction costs. The total investment is estimated to be 2 billion Hong Kong dollars. This is too much pressure for Hutchison. "

In the original history, MacLehose used Daxing Real Estate to solve the employment problem in Hong Kong at that time. Although the jobs in the construction industry were not as stable as factories, at least they could solve the problem in the short term. It can also be said that after 76 years, land prices in Hong Kong rose sharply , also has a certain relationship with MacLehose, and he promoted the great recovery of the entire real estate industry.

In fact, it is also because Hong Kong's economy is so bad now that only a few companies are doing well, such as those Chinese real estate companies, shipping giants, or companies under Chen Zhiwen, and others are not good. Except for Swire and Jardine Both Wheelock and Wheelock are getting weaker and weaker. Ordinary real estate companies have suffered too much in the past few years. Even if they see a slight recovery in the real estate market, they dare not enter the market, or they have no money to enter the market. Importantly, banks generally have not regained confidence in the real estate market.

No way, when there is no economic growth point, pushing up housing prices is the easiest solution.

"Two billion?" MacLehose was a little moved, but he continued: "Chen Sheng is going to invest 2 billion, and still care about such a small discount? You know, no matter how favorable I am, it won't be much."

"In the real estate market, a little discount can leverage more funds." Chen Zhiwen said with a light smile.

MacLehose thought for a while, nodded and said, "Okay, how about it, I can promise you a 10% discount to let you transfer the land in Hung Hom to commercial, but Hutchison must start the construction of this project before March next year, and recruit as much as possible." More workers, I don’t care about the cooperation between you and the construction company, but we must ensure that these workers can at least get their basic living expenses every month. As for how many workers, I need to invite professional people to follow the project plan you submitted to decide."

"Okay, no problem." Chen Zhiwen agreed wholeheartedly.

In Hong Kong, it is common for real estate companies to default on contract payments to construction companies, and construction companies also default on wages for their employees. When the real estate market rose well before, the real estate companies at the source readily gave money. When it comes to employees, even late A little bit, and generally can get a salary.

But after 73 years, the market plummeted, and the source real estate company either went bankrupt or ran away or had no money. Naturally, the construction company or Baogongtou was the same. In two or three years, the entire construction industry will fail.

This also caused a large number of people in Hong Kong to be unemployed, and many people had no place to live. Naturally, these people also became a headache for MacLehose.

This is why MacLehose urgently needs economic recovery. Whether it is through industry or construction, the employment problem must be solved first, otherwise Hong Kong will never recover.

In fact, Chen Zhiwen knew about this very early on, but he was powerless to do anything about this kind of thing. At most, after the acquisition of Hutchison, he would help related companies within or for him. There are too many other people. The government Also powerless, let alone him.

And now that I am personally in charge of a large-scale project for the first time, I can also drive thousands or even tens of thousands of construction workers. Even if I only give a part of the living expenses, it can be said to have a certain role in stabilizing society.

He would not have to pay a very high price to help this kind of ordinary people, and he was naturally willing to help. Besides, the sooner Hong Kong's economy recovers, he will be able to obtain higher benefits. .

PS: Let me briefly talk about a contradiction that has always existed in business issues. It takes a long time to negotiate such things in reality. It is impossible to write like this in a novel, so sometimes it succeeds once. Everyone understands For a moment, what else? I wrote seven or eight times in a year in the book, then you will vomit blood when you read it, and the plot will die randomly, but some of them need to be staggered, such as a few months, and then talk about success and cooperation ,etc