Return to 1958 and build a century-old giant

Chapter 918 Infrastructure Industry Chain Layout
"Build a large container terminal in Shenhai City?" Several bureau chiefs were taken aback by Yang Wendong's words.

A brief silence fell over the scene. After a while, Director Li said, "Mr. Yang, this matter is too big. Not only us, but even Shenzhen City probably can't make a decision on it. We have to ask the central government for instructions."

"Of course, I was just offering this suggestion," Yang Wendong said with a faint smile.
Director Li asked, "Mr. Yang, are you interested in investing in this container port?"

“Yes, that’s the idea.” Yang Wendong nodded and said, “If it can be done independently, I can raise the funds immediately and start construction as soon as I find a good location; if it needs to be a joint venture, then it will be up to you to act quickly, but I have no problem with that.”

It's a bit difficult to be wholly owned. Ports are not allowed even in special economic zones because they can be used for military purposes in emergencies, in addition to civilian use.

Regarding ownership, the mainland attaches great importance to this. Even if they don't make money, they still want it to belong to them in name. Even if it was a polar bear in the 60s, if it wanted to invest in China, the mainland would agree, but it would also require the mainland to control it.
This is why domestic highways, ports, and other infrastructure are mostly state-owned, with the state holding 51% of the shares, and railways are 100% state-owned.

Director Li said, "Okay, then we'll go back and discuss this matter, and we'll submit an application to the central government as soon as possible."

Yang Wendong said, "Okay, thank you."

After the Shenhai City officials left, Yang Wendong looked at Zheng Zhijie and said, "You've heard about what happened. What do you think?"

Zheng Zhijie replied, "Mr. Yang, building a port in the deep sea will certainly have its advantages, but it will inevitably affect the revenue of our Hong Kong port."
We've also taken up nearly half of the space at the Hong Kong docks, and I'm worried there might be some objections from the Hong Kong media.

"Ignore their objections. Why bother with them? I don't even care about the Hong Kong government anymore." Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "The Hong Kong government is already preparing to launch a new pier. I estimate that they will still use the same strategy as last time, using legal means to prevent us from taking over the new pier."
So even though we currently control half of Hong Kong's ports, if the new ports are controlled by other capital, our share of port revenue in Hong Kong may not even reach one-third.
Besides, the mainland will develop; it's impossible for them to forgo building their own docks just for the sake of Hong Kong's profits. Even if I don't participate today, they'll build their own in the future. So, it's better for us to act sooner and secure this project first.

Historically, in the late 80s, Shenhai City began large-scale construction of the Yantian Port terminal. This is something that cannot be changed. Now that Shenhai City's industry is more developed because of itself, this timeline will only be brought forward.

Zheng Zhijie nodded and said, "Mr. Yang is very thoughtful. I will arrange for someone to investigate which coastal area of ​​Shenhai City would be more suitable."

“Well, let’s work with the officials from Shenhai City. I estimate that in the end it will be a joint venture and they will operate it together.” Yang Wendong continued, “I heard that Yantian is a good place. You can arrange for a professional team to investigate and see if it is suitable for building a deep-water port.”

A natural harbor is a very high-quality geographical resource. Hong Kong was valued by Britain in the early years because of its excellent harbor.

Even considering the length of the coastline in inland areas, the number of naturally high-quality ports is not large.

"Okay," Zheng Zhijie agreed.
After spending a few more days in Shenhai City, Yang Wendong received a reply from Shenhai City, which naturally agreed to build a port within its own city.

However, since it involves hundreds of millions of yuan, it still needs to be reported to the Guangdong Provincial Government and the central government. Building a port is also part of the national strategy.

After receiving this result, Yang Wendong left Shenzhen and visited several other special economic zones, visiting local factories and the urban real estate industry, and also promised further investment.

In this era, in mainland China, building houses with your eyes closed will guarantee huge profits in the future, with a return on investment even higher than in Hong Kong.
After visiting all four special administrative regions, he returned to Hong Kong.
Christmas is just around the corner. Hong Kong still has a strong Western culture and takes it quite seriously. Yang Wendong doesn't really care; he just wants to have fun with his family. The reason doesn't matter.
Time flew by and it was 1983;
The central government's response to the container terminal in Shenhai City was also extremely fast; it received special approval in just half a month.
However, this is only a preliminary permit. Further steps, such as selecting a suitable location and reporting the scale of investment, will require further review by the central government.

Yang Wendong was naturally aware of the process and arranged for a professional team to go to the mainland.
Ten years ago, after Yang Wendong acquired Kinmen Construction, he arranged for the team to participate in port construction in Hong Kong, Singapore, and parts of Southeast Asia. Now, the team has a wealth of experience.

“Mr. Yang, with the current Hong Kong property crisis, many of our workers are out of work. Building docks on the mainland would be a good option,” Zheng Zhijie said happily.

Yang Wendong said, "It's not just the docks; you can try to participate in other projects that need to be built in the mainland, especially large-scale infrastructure projects."

While Hong Kong's property market cannot be said to be saturated, there is not much room for development left for us. Our main focus in the future will remain on the mainland.

Cheung Hing Properties is already number one in Hong Kong. After it acquires Hongkong Land, it will basically stop investing in Hong Kong real estate, at most participating in a few future top-tier buildings, such as IFC, etc.

The mainland has unlimited opportunities in the future. Even though it is restricted by its foreign investment status and cannot participate in the residential market, office buildings, hotels, highway and port infrastructure, etc., are all trillion-level markets.
“I understand. With the development of the mainland, once it reaches the level of some Southeast Asian countries, the demand for infrastructure will inevitably be very high.” Zheng Zhijie said, “This is also a great opportunity for us, but it will be quite difficult to compete with local state-owned enterprises.”

“We can’t compete with normal competition, but I will be investing heavily in infrastructure in mainland China in the future, so there is still a chance,” Yang Wendong nodded and said.
These are industries that can be done in mainland China, and we are generally not willing to let foreign companies do them. After all, once foreign companies make money, they need to convert the RMB they earn into foreign exchange and leave.
It wasn't until after 95, when domestic and international foreign exchange reserves were less strained and there was an intention to join the WTO, that many restrictions were lifted. For example, foreign-owned supermarkets were allowed to operate at that time. In the 80s, normal competition was impossible. The only option was for individuals to take the lead in investing in infrastructure projects and then have their own construction companies participate. This served two purposes: firstly, to expand the market, and secondly, to provide oversight.
Zheng Zhijie said, "Okay, that's all we can do for now."

"By the way, the central government on the mainland has also agreed to let us build a steel plant on the mainland. However, to ensure foreign exchange balance, the first phase can only be within one million tons." Yang Wendong said, "I also plan to place it in Shenzhen. You can discuss with Lao Wei how to ensure foreign exchange balance. In addition, some of the container factory's production capacity can also be moved there."

The mainland had been requesting the construction of a steel plant for a long time, but this request was obviously met with great resistance. At that time, steel was as important as oil was decades later, or even more important. It was still very difficult for foreign capital to invest.
Changxing Group also dispatched teams to Yanjing multiple times to negotiate with various departments before finally reaching an agreement.
"Foreign exchange balance? That's not a problem." Zheng Zhijie said, "Our factory in Hong Kong needs a million tons of steel, so that's not a big problem. Even if the container factory moves to the mainland, the final exports can still be attributed to the same company."

If the mainland allows the first phase, does that mean there will be a second and third phase afterward?

A single shipping container requires several tons of steel. Today, the container factory under Changxing Industry has an annual production capacity of over 50 containers, and it continues to rise. The global market demand for containers is increasing, and these things also have a limited lifespan, making it an industry that cannot be satisfied.

Yang Wendong said: "That should be the case. Originally, I was thinking of building a 500 million-ton facility, plus our iron ore mine in Australia, and we would also have our own transportation. We could also absorb the final products internally, making it a complete industrial chain."
However, the mainland authorities still felt that our production capacity was too large and worried that it would affect their own steel mills, especially Baosteel, so they only approved one million tons.
Let's leave it at that for now. We can see how things go later and apply to expand the scale later.

It's already quite an achievement to take the first step. The mainland side is probably also thinking of taking this opportunity to try it out. If it succeeds, all the better. If it fails, it's only a million tons of production capacity, which is nothing compared to the tens of millions of tons of production capacity in the entire mainland.
“Okay, if the steel plant is successful in the future, then our infrastructure construction costs in the mainland will be much lower.” Zheng Zhijie thought for a moment and said, “Qingzhou Yingni is also one of our subsidiaries, so how about we build a cement plant in the mainland?”

"You're overthinking things. I haven't even looked into the regulations for cement plants in the mainland yet." Yang Wendong waved his hand and said, "You can decide for yourself. If it's profitable, then invest; if not, then forget it."

Ying Ni, a long-established Hong Kong company, is on par with Jardine Matheson and Swire in terms of its long history, but its development level is not as high as these companies.
Its main industry is cement, and it has almost monopolized the cement supply in Hong Kong, so it can be said to be a small monopoly group.

A few years ago, Changxing Real Estate acquired this company. Yang Wendong only learned about it briefly before letting his subordinates handle it themselves. He wasn't interested in participating in a company with a market value of only tens of millions. He just needed to know that the matter existed and the final result.

However, if the entire industrial chain in the infrastructure sector were also self-owned, that would be terrifying. Although the profit margin in this industry is low, the market size is large enough. If the entire industrial chain is controlled, even if only 1% can be saved, the profit will be huge. At the same time, due to the reduction in costs, a larger market can also be obtained.

"Okay," Zheng Zhijie replied.
The project for the new port in Shenhai City, although confidential, is limited to the initial planning stages.

After the planning was completed, whether it was the Shenzhen Municipal Government, Changxing Group, or people from the central government, they all needed to conduct a comprehensive and extensive survey of the coastal area of ​​Shenzhen City. They even needed to invite many port and shipping experts. The number of people directly involved was several hundred, and the number of people indirectly served was probably over a thousand.

Such a major move could not possibly be kept secret from the outside world. Hong Kong media quickly got wind of it, and some newspapers immediately broke the news.

The title is naturally "Deepsea City Intends to Build New Port to Seize Hong Kong's Port Trade";
Affected by this news, many Hong Kong stocks related to port trade plummeted. Some sharp media commentators immediately criticized this as harming Hong Kong's interests and that the mainland should not do such a thing.
Yang Wendong and Changxing Group were also implicated, but now that the Yang family is at the height of their power in Hong Kong's media industry, no one dares to say the name directly.

"These useless people are really..." Yang Wendong finished reading the newspaper and threw it aside.
They are all overgrown children, just like some useless people in Europe in the past. They all think that they should control the world's high-end technology and financial fields, that they should reap huge profits, and that other countries should work hard and then use low-income products to support them.

When other countries rise to prominence, they will only think it's others' fault, that others shouldn't be able to live as well as they do.
“Mr. Yang, this is to be expected. Some people are just trying to attract attention.” Qi Ruifan said, “I will also deal with these clowns through legal means.”

“Yes, good. These people are determined to follow Britain anyway, so it’s good to teach them a lesson,” Yang Wendong nodded.

Qi Ruifan continued, "Okay, Mr. Yang, please rest assured that the media attention will soon be diverted. We will release some celebrity gossip, but it won't affect the group's plans."

“Okay, the media is on your shoulders now,” Yang Wendong said. “Although these are all minor matters, they can cause trouble if they are reported in the newspapers every day, especially at this critical juncture.”
TVB should try to make some big moves to divert public attention.

"Yes, Mr. Yang," Qi Ruifan replied.
Yang Wendong then asked, "How's the satellite thing going?"

Qi Ruifan said, "We have already sent people to HBC TV to learn about the relevant knowledge. Currently, we are only in contact with NASA and the European Space Agency to discuss satellite specifications and delivery plans."

"Alright, there's no rush. Take your time. First, make sure you understand how to operate the satellite channel," Yang Wendong nodded.

"Yes, Mr. Yang." Qi Ruifan continued, "Mr. Yang, there's one more thing. The Japanese space agency has also found out about this and is thinking of cooperating with us to launch satellites for us, and they guarantee that the price will be cheaper than that of Europe and the United States. What do you think?"

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)