Chapter 468 Planning the Hung Hom Cross-Harbour Tunnel
Seeing that the ball was kicked to him, as a "Justice of the Peace" and the most famous wealthy Chinese businessman in Hong Kong, it seemed normal to be questioned.
So he said: "Everyone, let's think about this matter from a rational level. Many times, imagination is beautiful. For example, there is no war in the world, and the rich give their unused money to the poor. , but in fact this is impossible. The entire society still needs certain rules,
< br>Even if you are doing charity, even if you can save 100,000 lives, you must obtain the consent of the rich, otherwise the society will only become very chaotic and cause greater losses.”
Dai Linzhi's eyes lit up after hearing this, and he said with a smile: "Yang Sheng is right, but I don't know what your suggestion is?"
After listening to the others, they did not refute. Even Ye Xien knew that his proposal was just to oppress Yihe. No country in the world would agree to his request and force a loss-making enterprise to sell. The entire basic foundation of modern society would collapse.
Yang Wendong continued: "This is very simple. We can just compromise and the Hong Kong government can just add a ferry license. Just like when Li's TV station was the only one, the Hong Kong government issued a new TV station license; This was the case with Hong Kong's electricity, CMB, and terminals in the early years."
After hearing this, John Keswick's expression suddenly changed and he immediately said: "This is absolutely not possible. Now a ferry company is losing money, then. If the two companies operate together, they will only The losses are even worse."
Ye Xien immediately said: "Mr. Keswick, I think this is better for Jardine. If your company loses 1.2 million a year in operation, then there is an extra company to help you. Tan, can't I help you? Save 600,000 losses? "
"." John Keswick was criticized again and didn't know how to answer. Now he understood that just now Yang Wendong seemed to be defending the "capitalists" group, but in fact he still wanted to For yourself.
Yang Wendong still said gently: "Mr. Keswick, everyone is in business. Since you, Jardine He, are losing money to maintain public infrastructure projects such as the Star Ferry, then I think there are still many other people in Hong Kong who are the same."
The potential of the Star Ferry is actually very limited, especially when the undersea tunnel is opened in the future, its role will gradually transform from a "transportation vehicle" to a "sightseeing and tourism tool".
But like China, Pakistan and KMB, the core infrastructure business does not make money. However, for the core infrastructure business, there are a large number of berths, office spaces, and warehouses on both sides of Victoria Harbor. The value of these locations in the future does not need to be much. It turns out that no one is unmoved. Historically, after Pao Yukang seized the Wharf, he also used the land of the Star Ferry to develop many properties.
At this time, the representative of the Hong Kong Telephone Company also said: "Yang Sheng, this approach is even worse. If a people's livelihood enterprise opens another one because it cannot make money, it will only lead to no one to invest again. People's livelihood industry, this will be a huge loss to Hong Kong. ”
Representatives from China Power, Hong Kong Electric and other companies also deeply agreed. In their eyes, the Star Ferry is a small company, but now it is very important because it has aroused outrage among the Chinese. How will the Hong Kong government deal with this issue today? This thing is very important to these large monopoly consortiums.
This is also the reason why Jardine Matheson refuses to retreat. With this retreat, all British-owned monopoly consortiums will not be able to make money as they did before.
Dai Linzhi also agreed and said: "Yang Sheng, it will take a long time to increase the number of licenses, and the Star Ferry already has enough capacity. It is indeed a good idea for the Star Ferry Company to issue licenses again. Unfair."
"Then I have another way." Yang Wendong said his purpose: "Build a tunnel between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, so as to alleviate the problem of Tianxing Xiao. The wheel problem is a trivial matter, but more importantly, once the tunnel is opened, the traffic between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon will increase by more than ten times in an instant, especially for various cars and trucks, which will be very convenient. "
Everyone. Everyone fell silent after listening. The construction of the tunnel has actually been debated for more than ten years, but the construction has never started. One is that the capital investment is very large, and the other is that the interests involved are also very large.
John Keswick frowned. Once the tunnel is completed, it will definitely be a devastating blow to the Star Ferry, but it is not easy for him to explain this kind of cause that is beneficial to Hong Kong at such a meeting. Faced with opposition, other British capital did not care.
Dai Linzhi said: "Yang Sheng, the undersea tunnel has actually been discussed since the last Governor Bailey, but there are many problems. According to our estimates, this investment will cost at least 200 million Hong Kong dollars.
Moreover, the recovery speed is difficult to predict. With the current traffic volume in Hong Kong, it may not be possible to recover the cost in a lifetime; The project is very difficult, and investing so much money in the undersea tunnel is not cost-effective for other emergency projects within Hong Kong.”
“Mr. Hong Kong Governor’s consideration is indeed right, but I think Hong Kong can imitate some European and American countries. , if the project is contracted to a private enterprise, won't the risk be transferred?" Yang Wendong said calmly.
In fact, the fundamental reason is that no one in this era can predict how Hong Kong's economy will develop in the future, how many cars there will be, and how high the per capita income will be; so investing in such large-scale projects is naturally very cautious.
In the 1960s, there were many infrastructure problems in other parts of Hong Kong. For example, regular heavy rains caused floods in many places, and the Hong Kong government had no money, so the more famous "B rights" were born. "Land Exchange Letter"; and Hong Kong's land cannot retain water, which will often lead to droughts. The Hong Kong government has to spend money to buy water from the mainland and invest in building reservoirs, etc.
Other basic facilities such as roads, education, medical care, bridges, etc. also need the support of the Hong Kong government. The construction of these projects will be more effective for Hong Kong at this moment.
Everyone also heard what Yang Wendong meant. Dai Linzhi asked: "Yang Sheng, do you want to invest in the Hung Hom Cross-Harbour Tunnel?"
Yang Wendong smiled and said: "I can't guarantee this. But if conditions permit, I will consider it.” Now that housing prices in Hong Kong have begun to rise, it is not the best time to reach an agreement with the Hong Kong government. However, it is normal for such a large-scale project to take a year and a half to negotiate in the early stages. Therefore, we are now proposing that we wait until the real estate industry collapses and Hong Kong British prepare to run away. When the time comes, it would be most appropriate to discuss the price and conditions.
And if such a project was announced to start in 1967, it would also be helpful to the Chinese people's confidence in Hong Kong.
And the project will be completed in about two or three years, almost in 1969-70. At that time, Hong Kong's economy began to take off. If the undersea tunnel can be promoted further, it will be perfect.
"Okay, let's talk alone after that." Dai Linzhi was also a little moved.
Any Hong Kong governor or local government official hopes to have certain achievements during his term of office, so that he can be qualified to compete with others for higher positions in the future. Even if he is a little worse, he can become Important milestones on your life resume.
Performance requires physical support. Even if Hong Kong's economy can take off several times during one term, it is too illusory and far inferior to a real large-scale project, especially a landmark public building. .
"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded and agreed.
At this time, Ye Xi'en said: "If Yang Sheng can invest in the undersea tunnel, it will indeed be a blessing to the people of Hong Kong. However, water from afar cannot quench the thirst for nearness. This will not alleviate the current problem, so please reconsider the matter at hand."
Everyone was right when they heard it. What they saw in front of them was Chaos is the most important thing. If it is not controlled, the losses will only get bigger and bigger, just like a bank run, or even more serious. As long as the Hong Kong government wants to control the bank run, it can basically suppress it, but it is completely different now. The Hong Kong government is also helpless unless it resorts to violent suppression, but the consequences will be uncontrollable.
Yang Wendong no longer expressed any opinions. In fact, even if there was no Star Ferry, there would be other reasons for this kind of thing to happen. The fundamental reason is that the Chinese are getting stronger and stronger and will inevitably resist Hong Kong. English.
A 3-hour meeting did not come up with anything in the end. Jardine Group The group refused to give in even if it was life and death. One million or even ten million Hong Kong dollars was nothing to Jardine, but it represented the core interests of British capital in Hong Kong; The two parties tried to mediate to avoid escalation of the conflict, but in the end nothing was negotiated. Seeing that it was already afternoon, the meeting finally adjourned.
After having a light meal at the Hong Kong Governor's Mansion, Yang Wendong received the Governor's invitation and came to the Hong Kong Governor's Mansion office;
"Yang Sheng, please sit down." Dai Linzhi said with a smile.
Yang Wendong politely replied: "Thank you, Mr. Governor."
Immediately after a secretary served the coffee, Dai Linzhi asked directly: "Yang Sheng, there are only two of us here. For now What do Yang Sheng think about the situation? "
Sometimes, there are too many people and you can't talk too much. This applies everywhere.
Yang Wendong shook his head and said: "Mr. Hong Kong Governor, this matter is really difficult to solve. The Star Ferry wants to increase the price, and ordinary citizens do not agree. For this kind of thing, either Jardine and tens of thousands of citizens must give in. There is no other way. There's nothing people can do."
He didn't want to wade into this muddy water. Either side would offend the other side. He didn't want to attend the morning meeting if it wasn't personally invited by the Hong Kong Governor.
“Yes, but the price of infrastructure facilities in any country will always increase.” Dai Linzhi said: “Just like the undersea tunnel that Yang Sheng mentioned this morning, it will inevitably become more expensive after decades of operation. Price increase, right?”
“Indeed, the people’s livelihood industry is indeed very sensitive in this regard,” Yang Wendong nodded in agreement.
As society develops, prices will continue to inflate. The early investment in infrastructure will inevitably increase in cost in the future, so price increases are inevitable.
Even in the mainland of the previous life, state-owned enterprises controlled many people's livelihood supplies, but it was very difficult to raise water and electricity prices. Even domestic electricity prices have increased by less than 100% in decades. This is unbelievable in any country. If it weren't for The country's industry has developed rapidly and the electricity market has increased dramatically, which has evenly spread the cost, otherwise it would not be possible at all.
Dai Linzhi also knew that there was unlikely to be a perfect solution to this kind of thing, so he asked again: "Yang Sheng, are you serious about what you said about the undersea tunnel this morning?"
"If it's appropriate, I'm willing to invest." Yang Wendong nodded: "Even the release of this news may be able to alleviate the situation."
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(End of this chapter)