2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 349 Thousand-Acre Industrial Park

"Hey, honey, come quick! Isn't this the young man who booked the whole place the other day?"

"WTF?"

"On TV, on Wangjiang News, isn't that the young man who came to our house to book the whole place the other day, the one with the big leader?"

The memory is so vivid. All six households run agritainment businesses. Living in the heart of the island makes it difficult to do other businesses, but none of the more than 20 households have ever had their entire place booked out since they started operating.

He still remembers that the group of five people that day were all very imposing, and they addressed each other with various titles. The few sentences he occasionally overheard were about valuations and shares, and he couldn't understand what they were saying at all.

The host was the young man on TV, and the pretty girl was probably his girlfriend, sitting next to him the whole time, looking very well-behaved.

"Huh? It really is! How come it's on TV? What's it about?"

"He said he was going to build an electric vehicle factory in the county. I didn't expect him to be such a big boss. I should have taken a picture with him. Maybe it would have been useful."

I'm so impressed! If they set up factories in the county and had a photo of themselves with the boss, they could promote their businesses there and attract a lot of company leaders.

After hearing what the couple said, they both felt a little regretful.

The planned area of ​​the Shanchi Wangjiang Industrial Park is very large. It is planned to be located in Huayang Town, which accounts for about one-tenth of the county's area. Huayang Town is the area with the most convenient transportation in the county. It can be connected to the Yangtze River by waterway, and there is also a planned road connecting to the expressway.

The price of industrial land in the small county is outrageously low, almost worthless. Even if Flash Motors wanted to take less, the county might not be happy. Tao Qinian had finally persuaded Tan Jincheng, hoping that Flash Motors could boost other industries in the county. How could he possibly agree?

Once the industrial park is built and put into operation, it's better to source small parts locally to reduce costs. The larger the scale and the more electric vehicles produced, the more it will attract locals to return to their hometowns to start businesses.

Even opening a small shop next to an industrial park can boost local consumption.

"It's a little over 1000 mu (approximately 67 hectares), to be built in two phases over 36 months, including the current logistics park," Tan Jincheng said, rubbing his head in response to his father's question.

For this negotiation, Flash Motors dispatched a 15-person team led by Tan Jincheng, including 4 lawyers. They have been discussing the specific details for a week.

For the past week, Tan Lihua and his wife have not returned home. Firstly, the news has already been broadcast and the word has spread throughout the village. Secondly, Tan Lihua still needs to make some preparations for the renovation of their old house.

Tan Jincheng did not live in the county. After each day's conversation, Li Yaohui would take him home. In the past few days, many villagers had come to his house to inquire about news, mainly hoping to see if he could do something at the factory.

Most people weren't familiar with Tan Jincheng and were a little embarrassed to ask him directly, so his father, Tan Lihua, became the messenger.

Tan Jincheng had no time to concern himself with such trivial matters. When it came to recruiting workers, the personnel department and the county labor bureau would organize it collectively. Asking too many questions would only annoy him. So, Tan Jincheng didn't mind revealing some information to his father. Anyway, everything was pretty much settled and wouldn't change.

"Huh? 1000 acres, and the construction site will take three years to build?"

"Yes, so you think it's too early to talk about hiring now? This third factory of mine was originally planned for the future, and I'm not in a hurry to use it."

"Could we find them some work on the construction site? There are quite a few people in the village like your second uncle who work on construction sites."

Migrant workers born in the 60s and 70s mostly work in jobs that require selling their labor. There are indeed many men working on construction sites, and their biggest fear is not getting paid.

Although the wages at the construction site in the county are lower, it is close to home and is Tan Jincheng's factory, so they don't have to worry about not getting paid.

"Okay, I'll let you know when the time comes. It's still early."

Running a factory in your hometown comes with these unavoidable challenges. You have to consider all sorts of interpersonal relationships and social dynamics. If you don't handle things well, you can easily incur resentment, even if it doesn't cause you any real loss.

"In that case, I'll just hire someone to design our house directly, instead of handing it over to the villagers. We'll get a professional construction team."

Tan Jincheng had seen houses built in the countryside before, and to be honest, it was a bit frightening to see. People dared to climb onto the roof without any safety measures, and quite a few accidents happened. But people have been doing this for generations, so there's no use in telling them.

Since the villagers want to work on the construction site, they might as well take this opportunity to hand over their houses to a more professional construction team.

“Okay, then I’ll tell them that.” Tan Lihua also agreed with this point.

Nowadays, there are very few contract workers in the village; most jobs are done on a per-day basis, and meals are provided. He doesn't have that much time to watch over things, so it's better to just contract it out to a construction team.

"When are you going back? Qingqing has been gone for several days now, aren't you going back?" Zhang Suzhi no longer cared about her son's career; it was meaningless to her. Instead, she hoped her son would get married soon.

In a couple of years, my daughter will be a little older, so this is a good opportunity to take care of my grandchildren as well. These past few days have been very relaxing for her. Back in the village, Tan Jinyue has friends to play with. Although there aren't as many toys as in the city, there are plenty of fun places in the countryside. Plus, there are so many grandparents and great-grandparents on both sides, so she doesn't need to be looked after at all.

Tan Jinyue was having so much fun that she didn't even want to go to the county to eat something delicious, even when Tan Jincheng said he would take her.

I must say, it's great that kids are like this; they can adapt to any environment.

"It'll be a few more days, Mom. Are you coming back with me? Or do you want to stay home for a while, and I'll send someone to pick you up later?"

"Let's see Jin Yue. We'll go back when she's tired of playing. Don't be fooled by her not clinging to you now, it's because you're by her side. She'll probably throw a tantrum if she doesn't see you for a few days."

Tan Jincheng laughed heartily, feeling very proud; his love for Tan Jincheng hadn't been wasted.

"We'll talk about it later. If possible, we can go back together."

The mother and son discussed returning to Beicang without any restraint, which hurt Tan Lihua, who was standing to the side. However, he had been quite successful recently, all thanks to his son.

On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the old village chief wrote down all the things Tan Jincheng had promised on a red list and posted it in the village ancestral hall. By evening, the news had spread throughout the village.

The village, which was mainly populated by the elderly and children, suddenly erupted into chaos.

The elderly in rural areas are actually quite energetic. Many people over 70 years old still work in the fields. Apart from medical treatment, they don't have many expenses. 1000 yuan a year is enough to cover their daily expenses.

In addition, there are quite a few elderly people like the village chief who are obsessed with the ancestral hall. Although Grandpa doesn't say it, when Tan Jincheng discussed the matter with his father, he included repairing the ancestral hall in the discussion, and Grandpa was obviously much happier.

That evening, many elderly people came to thank Tan Jincheng, which made him quite embarrassed.

The next day, Tan Jincheng simply asked Li Yaohui to go to the county bank to withdraw money and fulfill his promise for this year.

The news that the big boss from Tanjia Village had returned and was distributing money spread throughout the surrounding villages.

The industrial park, covering thousands of acres, has a total investment of 10 billion yuan. Once fully completed, the factory buildings will cover an area of ​​approximately 80 square meters, mainly for the construction of mid-to-high-end electric vehicle production lines and related supporting industrial parks.

Once the project is fully completed, it is expected to produce 500 million electric vehicles annually, generating annual sales revenue of 70 billion yuan, 2.5 million yuan in tax revenue annually, and creating more than 3000 jobs.

In addition to the production line and supporting industrial park, there are also workers' dormitories, canteens, supermarkets and other living infrastructure, making it almost like an independent town. This design is modeled after Foxconn.

There was no other way; the surrounding environment and living conditions of the Beicang and Jinmen factories were better than those in the county town. Many supporting facilities did not need to be provided by the factories. For example, the dormitories. In fact, many workers were unwilling to live in the dormitories because they felt uncomfortable.

Shopping is much more convenient in developed first- and second-tier cities than in small county towns. However, industrial zones in county towns cannot meet this requirement. If you don't form an effective closed loop, you can't make your factory too large if you only set up one factory.

A 10 billion yuan investment is a major leap forward for Flash Group, equivalent to two years of Flash Technology's revenue. Obviously, such a large sum of money could not be raised in a one-time investment.

However, if the burden is spread over three years, there shouldn't be any problems. Therefore, after comprehensive consideration, Tan Jincheng did not think that the Wangjiang Industrial Park would be abandoned or would have a significant impact on the cash flow of the Shanchi Group.

These results are based on assessments conducted by the finance group with reference to the current status of its various subsidiaries, and are supported by data. They are not merely the result of Tan Jincheng's wishful thinking.

Subsidiaries are required to hand over a portion of their profits to the group's head office each year, which then distributes them. Subsidiaries like Jinyi Industry and Jinpeng Industry, which have substantial cash flow, hand over profits in US dollars.

Bafang Electric's profits are also quite good, and the profit distribution from the equity held by ByteDance's investment company is also a considerable amount.

The lithium battery business is important, but it's not the most important thing right now. The time to really make his mark will come after the 2008 global financial crisis. He will use the two-year gap to develop Flash Technology, take the electric vehicle business to the next level, and accumulate more cash.

The funds will be used to acquire more mineral resources in the future; this is the current business plan of Flash Group.

This investment of 10 billion yuan is the largest investment ever attracted to Wangjiang. It is not only the largest investment project in Wangjiang, but also the largest in Yicheng besides Sinopec.

In 2006, it was one of the top-ranked counties in Anhui Province. On the day of the signing and press conference, the small county attracted many media outlets from within Anhui Province, as well as media from Ningbo and Tianjin.

As Tao Qinian walked into the signing ceremony and faced the flashing lights, he was extremely excited. This was the most glorious moment of his life.

Thank you Zzyhouse, and thank you for your generous donation! You're so kind!

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(End of this chapter)