Chapter 173: Prototyping of New Industrial City

With the income from the liquidation of all the luxury houses, Lin Ruoyan only needs to worry about how to spend 100 million yuan every month in the next four years. The sense of urgency to make money instantly dissipated.

She indulged herself in unrestrained eating, drinking, and entertainment, and only visited the office a few times after the Lantern Festival. The employees were all working diligently, so she felt embarrassed to slack off, so she hurried to attend the two opening ceremonies.

One was in Yicheng, where there's no winter construction schedule. Local authorities gave the green light, eager for the swift completion of the urban complex, addressing the challenges of attracting new industries and creating a large number of jobs, and giving the old city a fresh look. The land was originally auctioned with a plan, demolition was completed before the Lunar New Year, and construction drawings were produced overtime, with construction commencing immediately after the Spring Festival.

As the chairman and president of Lin Real Estate, Lin Ruoyan was warmly received. Together with the leaders of the local competent department, she symbolically dug the soil with a small shovel tied with red silk, completing the start-up process.

Old Jiao also took a look around. Back then, when he was stationed all over the country, Yicheng was a natural place for him. He visited many of the junior staff members he had previously worked with in various departments, many of whom had risen to leadership positions. He also visited some of the construction companies he had worked with. When industry insiders saw that even Old Jiao was from Lin's Real Estate, they immediately felt that the company was strong and professional.

Originally, they were worried that the blueprints would be beautiful but the construction would not be completed. Now that Old Jiao is watching over them, the construction team dares not slack off and vows to complete the project and not lose face.

Lao Jiao recruited an experienced construction management manager locally and entrusted him with important tasks while he was stationed on site. The design department also followed suit, forming a design management team locally and also stationed on site.

There is a very proactive young man in the marketing department. His family is originally from this area. He made money selling luxury houses before the New Year. His family arranged a local wife for him and urged him to come back to get married. So he simply applied to come to Yicheng project in advance to prepare for the early sales research.

There are people on site from the three major departments of design, construction and marketing. Even if Qin Shuang is not always there for this project, it will not delay the specific progress of the project.

The southern climate is favorable. Excavation began at the end of February, and the commercial podium is expected to be completed in two months. The sales office and model apartments will then be completed within a month. The residential and office buildings will reach structural topping-out in five months, while renovations for the commercial complex and hotel will proceed simultaneously. Most residential buildings should be ready for delivery by October. Therefore, the earliest projected sales launch is June, and the sales office will be ready before Golden Week in May to attract customers.

After returning from the south, Lin Ruoyan attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the xx Industrial New City in Hebei Province.

This time, the construction started not only the courtyard villa model group and the town center that Lin Ruoyan was responsible for, but also Wang Min’s high-end hotel.

Wang Min's hotel has two underground floors. He had actually completed the basement structure years ago, but it wasn't above ground at the time due to some paperwork issues. Now that the paperwork has been sorted out and the higher-ups involved in the industrial new city are free, it's the perfect time to hold a grand and formal groundbreaking ceremony.

Lin Ruoyan was just going through the motions. In the previous few months, Feng Qiang, Xin Qin and a bunch of people from the design department had been to the site many times and reported on their work at the provincial and county levels. They also provided all the holiday gifts before the New Year, which was why they were so happy at the groundbreaking ceremony.

Lin Ruoyan had participated in similar groundbreaking ceremonies in the real world, but back then she was just a busy worker, a marginal figure in society. Now, whether in Yicheng or in Hebei Province, she was on the podium, watching others busy themselves. She thought she would be happy and enjoy herself, but after actually sitting there, those thoughts disappeared.

Money is not everything, but without money everything is difficult.

With tens of billions in her account, she can sit here with such composure, signing and approving tens of millions without even glancing at the last digit. Her only concern each month is how to spend a hundred million. Meanwhile, many others might still struggle to earn a few hundred or a few thousand per month.

Hebei's economy is somewhat less developed than Beijing's. Even though they're both moving bricks on construction sites, migrant workers earn significantly less than those working on projects in Beijing. Even so, a monthly income of 800 yuan is still better than farming on their own, where their income depends on the weather and they only earn a few hundred yuan per mu per year. Therefore, when Ling Laoliu was recruiting, a long line of people lined up to sign up.

It is said that when their land was expropriated during the demolition, the farmers were given a one-time compensation of 3,000 to 4,000 yuan, which made them very happy. This was because these few thousand yuan could build a decent three-room tiled house in the rural areas of Hebei Province.

The locals had no land to plant in the spring, but they had jobs with the construction team. They heard that this would be a new industrial city in the future and that factories would be opened there. Looking at the beautiful renderings, they thought it would become a small foreign town, even more beautiful than the current county town. Everyone would be such "city people" and they were full of expectations.

In Beijing, those few thousand yuan can only buy one square meter of commercial housing. Even ten years later, it will take tens of thousands of yuan to buy one square meter of commercial housing. The two places are only separated by a river.

This phenomenon was happening all over the country. There were many myths about people getting rich from demolition projects back then, but most people moved to the city to work and earn money, then returned to their hometowns to renovate their houses. If their hometowns also caught up with good projects and became new districts or new cities, that would be even better.

After the groundbreaking ceremony, Wang Min was slightly drunk. The leaders held his hand and expressed higher expectations of him.

It's not just this xx new city. Hebei Province has a large circle surrounding Beijing. The provincial leaders hope that more new cities like this can be built to take over the industries in Beijing.

Wang Min said a lot of nice things, but when it came to the actual implementation, he sobered up and came to ask Lin Ruoyan for help privately, asking her if it would really be possible to build a new city somewhere else in the province.

This person is still very sober and cautious.

He is a native of this county, and with the right timing, location and people, his project went smoothly. Although other places also have support from people in the province, he has no idea what the locals think.

Lin Ruoyan said, "Mr. Wang, let's build this new city in the next two years and put it here for others to see. Seeing is believing, and we'll have a reference for future projects. Besides, there are always local engineering companies and factories. As your company grows, you can also attract all kinds of talents to your partners and branches."

Wang Min liked hearing this. He knew that if he went to work on a project in another place, it would be a good idea to form a partnership with a local boss to start a company. He just wanted to ask more: "So, where do you think is the best place to go?"

"If Mr. Wang takes me out to play, I'll share my thoughts," Lin Ruoyan said half-jokingly and half-seriously. "Otherwise, I'd rather stick to my current little piece of land and run it well. I won't think about anything else."

Wang Min laughed heartily and said, "Since I asked you, then of course we have to do something big together. Mr. Lin's vision is much better than us old guys. The provincial leaders think I'm capable, but in fact, I'm very guilty. Without you, how could I dare to run such a big business?"

Lin Ruoyan agreed and said, "In the near future, places like T State, east of the CBD and close to Beijing, are worth considering. As for the long term, look north to the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. Building a ski resort there in the future might be a good way to attract tourists from Beijing."