It was an awkward situation in the office. Mayor Xiao leans back into the sofa suddenly. If that Zhou Shuai were really a conman, he would have to bear the full responsibility as he was the one who started this project. If he is unable to recover all the funds, his career will be gone.
Mayor Xiao was desperate for success!
It was not wrong to try and gain credit. All government officials want to do things that will bring them credits. If not, they are just lazing around!
But the officer must be capable of getting that credit. He cannot forget the duty of a government official in exchange for political achievements. He must improve the lives of the people he is governing first. Mayor Xiao did not do enough checks and resulted in many people getting conned. This was failure on his part.
You should at least conduct and understand the project before bringing it in. 10,000 tons? That conman says there are 10,000 tons, and you believe it without any verifications?
The phone on the desk rang, and Zhang Ruiqiang quickly picks it up. He hangs up after saying 2 sentences.
“He is in our custody now. Old Xiao, make a trip to the Provincial government office. You must get back all the money. If there is any shortfall, the City Government will make up the numbers. We must not let out people lose their hard-earned money.”
Feng Yu wanted to interrupt. Why should the City spend money to make up the shortfall? Those are taxpayers’ money.
After Mayor Xiao left, Zhang Ruiqiang saw Feng Yu looking unhappy. He frowned and asked: “What’s wrong? You think that the City Government should not use its money to cover this up? Then tell me, how should we solve this problem?”
Deduct the loss amount from Mayor Xiao’s salary? A government official’s salary will not be enough to recover the amount spent by the conman. The City Government had to take responsibility. If not, it will lower the public trust in the City Government.
Seeing Feng Yu keeping quiet, Zhang Ruiqiang continued: “Old Xiao is still very capable. Look at our Bing City. It is much cleaner than before. He is also good at city planning. This is only a minor mistake, and we discovered it early before it got worse.”
“I am not interested in how government officials do things.” Feng Yu waved his hand.
Zhang Ruiqiang was speechless. You are treating me as one of them?
“Oh, do you think we can do this Polysilicon manufacturing business?” Since the world’s production of Polysilicon is less than 10,000 tons, that means the competition is not significant. Bing City had found out that the global demand for Polysilicon is very high and this should be a profitable business.
“I already said earlier. Bing City’s location is not suitable, and the demand is not as big as you think. Also, we do not have the required technology. How are you going to enter this business?”
“Can we start small? We can focus on meeting China’s demands first? It should not be a problem if we ship the Polysilicon to Beijing. As for the technologies, I think the Institute of Technology University has the solution.”
Wait, you say the Institute of Technology University has this technology?” Feng Yu was shocked. This technology might not be complicated, but there were different levels of technology. It is like screwing a screw with a screwdriver and an electric screwdriver.
“They should have the required technology. When Zhou Shuai approached us, we asked the Institute of Technology University. They were the ones who told us that there is a huge demand for Polysilicon, and the demand will increase further. That is also one of the reasons we decided to partake in this project.”
“Don’t tell me, ‘should.’ Do they really have the technology? Is their technology at international standard?”
“You are interested?” Zhang Ruiqiang asked.
“I have so many factories and have to import large amounts of Polysilicon. I will not be interested? If the Institute of Technology University really has state of the art technology, I am willing to buy it from them. Don’t look at me this way. I will not set up a Polysilicon in Bing City.” Feng Yu stopped Zhang Ruiqiang before he even says anything.
“Why not? Bing City is very accessible, and the location is not an issue. Furthermore, you can export the Polysilicon to Russia. We are much closer.”
“Export to Russia? Most of the Polysilicon is produced in Europe. You think the Russians will not import from Europe and will get it from us? Moreover, even if our scale is smaller, do you know how much money is needed? At least a few hundred million, and it will take at least a few years to recover the investment. Unless we have a very efficient technique of extracting the Polysilicon.”
Feng Yu remembers that Siemens’s technology in Polysilicon is the leader in the industry. They have the most efficient technology in Polysilicon production.
Institute of Technology University have this industry? Or their technology is those obsolete technologies?
“You are willing to set up this production plant in Bing City if the Institute of Technology University’s technology is more efficient?”
“No! Do you know that I had joined the Guangcai program?”
“What Guangcai program?” Zhang Ruiqiang looked at Feng Yu. This was a weird name.
“It is an initiative to help the poorer Western provinces. This is set up by a group of entrepreneurs. We will invest in those provinces by setting up factories there. The Western provinces have rich resources, and if my factory is set up there, I will save transportation costs. If the resources I needed had to be imported, then I should set up my factories in the coastal regions.”
Zhang Ruiqiang sighed. “Bing City’s development had hit a bottleneck.”
“How is this possible? Bing City still has many undiscovered resources. If you can manage these resources well, there is still high potential.”
“Many resources? What are you referring to?” Zhang Ruiqiang was curious. He did not notice any new resources and potential in Bing City.
“For example, our Donglin food products, Red Sausage, Kvass, etc. All these can be sold to other provinces. People are always curious about new things. This Kvass drink is from Russia. Sausages are also very popular now. Why can’t you vacuum seal the Red Sausages and sell it elsewhere?”
“This will work?”
“Absolutely no problem. Donglin food products are almost a hundred years old brand. I have the distribution channels and can let Donglin food products enter Tai Hua Supermarkets. But you all must pay the necessary charges.”
This was killing two birds with one stone. Feng Yu could help his hometown’s brand and also increase the variety of goods in Tai Hua Supermarket.
“Other than this?” Zhang Ruiqiang asked.
“Bing City Beer. This is the oldest beer brand in China. It is established about the same time as Dong Lin Food products, right? It is an old established brand. Why can’t you all make use of it?” Feng Yu rolled his eyes. Bing City was a treasure cove. What’s the point of looking at others?
“There are beers from other provinces too. Is this something about the brand?” Zhang Ruiqiang asked. He felt there was nothing special about Bing City’s beer.
“There is some beer that sells for 15 RMB a bottle, and some are selling for 1.5 RMB per bottle. What is the difference? Just look at our province. There are many too many beer brands. Why can’t you just have one beer brand? You can take over the 3 Northeast Provinces first and slowly expand towards the south. Do you know how much overseas beer companies make in a year? A few billion USD!”
“You can earn so much from selling beer?”
Feng Yu gave Zhang Ruiqiang a look. Selling soda can make much more than beer. Don’t talk about Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Just look at Jian Li Bao.
“That’s why our Bing City and even Longjiang province still have many resources for you to discover. You don’t need to get exterior funds. The City only needs to export these old brands out of the province, and you all will make big bucks.”
Zhang Ruiqiang nodded. From what Feng Yu said, Bing City and Longjiang Province really have lots of potentials……
