Chapter 914 By the way, I’m still a member of Parliament
The five-year term as prime minister seems to be relatively long, but now Cameron feels that compared with what he wants to do, this term is simply not enough. not enough.
It is also because more than three years have passed since his five-year term as prime minister, and there will be another general election in less than two years. Therefore, from now on, Cameron needs to consider pursuing his own goals. Preparing for re-election.
For this reason, he really hopes to promote the smooth progress of High-speed Rail Line 2 - of course, if this can be used to enable some small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK to obtain benefits from this "huge" project, Orders are the best.
The meeting with Barron this time was also when he heard that His Royal Highness the Duke proposed that if the EU monopoly agency could not give the other party a commitment to acquire, he would rather give up relevant EU subsidies and cooperate with China. He specifically communicated with Barron about the matter that caused him to participate in most of the HS2 project.
"As for the EU, we are conducting consultations and believe that there will eventually be an acceptable result. As for the EU's high-speed rail construction fund, Your Highness, if the EU does not subsidize the British high-speed rail plan, then the next EU budget will , we will reduce the amount of funds paid... ..."
Cameron said:
"Although I have promised to hand over the leadership to you for the high-speed rail line 2 project, in the contracting and procurement of this project, it is still Businesses within the EU, especially those in the UK, need to be considered..."
"I will definitely consider this. Mr. Prime Minister, even if we cooperate with China, the specific subcontractors and procurement projects will not exclude British companies. But at least when facing the EU, I You need to show your own attitude.”
Tong Kamei. Barron did not need to put on any pretense. He told the other party directly that if he took on this project, he would also bear great operating pressure. Naturally, he would need to consider the investment and final returns. Only when he could achieve profitability would he It is a healthy business project and has the conditions to be replicated in the future.
Similarly, because he invested in this project, the British government was able to save a lot of money in the construction of high-speed rail.
The operation of High-speed Rail Line 2 itself will be of great strategic significance to the local transportation in Britain and the exchanges between the north and the south.
If it hopes to use this to attract related domestic enterprises, the government can use part of the saved funds as subsidies for these enterprises to strengthen the competitiveness of British enterprises in participating in the HS2 project.
For Barron, he understands that cooperation with China will definitely greatly reduce the total investment of High-speed Rail Line 2. If you make a comparison, you can find that the current estimated total investment is close to 40 billion pounds. The cost of the HS2 project is outrageous.
High-speed Rail Line 2 is divided into three sections, roughly a Y-shaped route...
Among them, Birmingham is the hub in the middle. One section is from London to Birmingham, and then extends from Birmingham in two directions, reaching Manchester and Leeds respectively.
According to the latest plan, the entire high-speed rail line 2 has a total length of approximately 531 kilometers. Based on this calculation, even if the budget has not yet increased significantly, its cost per kilometer is as high as 75 million pounds (approximately 700 million pounds) Chinese currency).
For comparison, China’s Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway opened to traffic in 2011. Its total length is 1,318 kilometers, which is nearly 2.5 times as long as HS2. Its cost per kilometer is only 130 million yuan, which is currently expected to be HS2 per kilometer. The cost per kilometer is less than one-fifth.
The most important thing is that the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway started construction in 2008 and opened to traffic in 2011...
It can only be said that there is no harm without comparison...
Even considering that the cities connected by HS2 are all important cities in the UK - London is the largest city in the UK; Birmingham and Manchester are both important transportation hubs in the UK and claim to be the second largest city in the UK. The Leeds region is also the only one. The second largest district in England after Greater London...
After the completion and operation of this high-speed rail line, there will be acceptable profits.
Of course, if you only rely on train ticket income, I am afraid it will be good to be able to make a profit in 50 years... But if you calculate the operating income of the high-speed rail stations along the way and the operating income on the high-speed rail cars, then the profit expectations will increase greatly.
This is one of the reasons why Barron is willing to take over this project.
In addition, mastering the operation of such an important passenger transport line in England will also bring him other benefits.
……
“We have reached an agreement with Southern Scotland Electricity (SSE), and British Electricity will complete the acquisition of this company for 7.5 billion pounds... ”
Although the acquisition of Southern Scotland Electricity Company was initially questioned by some politicians, this doubt was quickly calmed down.
Three of the five councilors who initially opposed the acquisition of Southern Scotland Power Company by British Power Company, a subsidiary of United Power Group, quickly changed their attitudes after friendly negotiations and expressed support for the acquisition. sound.
As for the remaining two congressmen, scandals were exposed by the media last month. Finally, under the pressure of public opinion, they had to resign as congressmen. One of them even had to face charges from the prosecutor. I am afraid it will be difficult. Escape from jail.
After completing the acquisition of South Scotland Electricity Company, British Electricity Company's share of the British local electricity market will reach 40%, becoming the largest electric power group in the UK.
This acquisition has also been welcomed by the residents of northern Scotland - because after merging the Southern Scotland Power Company, the British Power Company announced that it will build a new LNG power station in the area to increase its supply to the local area. Electricity supply, at the same time, due to the decline in international energy prices and the overall synergy advantage of British Electricity Company, they will reduce the electricity price for residents in northern Scotland by 5%.
This is the first electricity price reduction in the region since 2007, which naturally makes local users welcome this merger.
After discussing the acquisition of British Electric Power Company, Dalula Riley glanced at Barron and said:
"Your Highness the Duke, the House of Lords will hold a meeting next week. Mr. Speaker wrote a letter hoping that you can attend then..."
Well, if Dalula hadn't reminded him, Barron would have almost forgotten that he was still in the House of Lords. It’s a matter of congressmen.
The main reason is that Barron himself does not need to "punch in" to attend meetings to receive subsidies like some members of the House of Lords...
So if there is nothing important, he almost Neither will attend a meeting of the House of Lords.
Speaking of which, maybe he did this because he also considered saving seats for the conference room of the House of Lords.
After all, despite the streamlining of the House of Lords staff during the Blair era, the number of members of the House of Lords has once again exceeded 760...
(End of Chapter)