Jiang'an Province, Huishen Highway, Huichuan section.
Although one could travel directly from Yong'an to the Jiang'an Gate Dock in Huichuan by boat via the Xi River channel, the time taken was much longer than traveling by car because it required going upstream against the current. Yue Wangbei decided to travel by car.
At a time when the County Situation was unstable, the County Party Secretary and the County Mayor could not both be absent from their posts for long. He needed to return from Huichuan as quickly as possible.
He specifically left Director Peng Beihai of the Committee Office behind in Yong'an. Logically, the Director of the Committee Office should follow wherever the County Party Secretary is inspecting.
However, the situation in the county was unstable, and if further turmoil occurred, the consequences would be unimaginable. For safety reasons, Peng Beihai had to stay.
Chen Donglai sat in Yue Wangbei's old Santana, feeling dizzy from the bumpy road surface. The Huishen Highway connected Huichuan City and Shennü County; although it was a major thoroughfare, its condition was never good due to poor maintenance.
While enduring the dizziness, he was considering his arrangements and contingency plans left behind in Yong'an. Wang Bingnan was currently presiding over all work at the Guesthouse. According to him, the interior renovation of the Guesthouse was largely complete, and the Exterior facade modification was underway, expected to be finished and operational within a week.
Regarding the Alloy Association, he had also instructed Lü Jiujian to avoid disclosing the loan contract details to outsiders unless forced by the competent authority. This way, they should be able to keep it quiet until the Guesthouse was completed.
"Xiaoshan, what is your view on Huichuan?" Yue Wangbei seemed completely unaffected by the rough road. Chen Donglai knew that before his retirement, he had been an armored unit commander, so this level of bumping was like flat ground to him.
"The confluence of the Xi River and the Qinglong River is a perfect transportation hub," Yang Xiaoshan answered quickly. Chen Donglai's arrival had awakened a sense of crisis in him, and he urgently needed to perform well in front of the Leader. "The Xi River is currently navigable for large vessels up to 7,000 tons, and the Qinglong River is navigable for cargo ships up to 3,000 tons."
"These two water transport routes connect Pingling Province and Yunxiao Province, greatly reducing logistics costs." Yang Xiaoshan had done his homework in advance; he already had some basic understanding of Huichuan's situation.
"What about Donglai?" Yue Wangbei called on Chen Donglai directly.
"Comrade Xiaoshan is correct; convenient transportation conditions are a major reason for Huichuan becoming an industrial powerhouse," Chen Donglai said, suppressing his feeling of being jostled. "Huichuan is a strong city in automobile manufacturing and also a major center for shipbuilding. In my opinion, the rapid development of these two industries in Huichuan is entirely dependent on convenient water transport conditions."
"Secretary Yue, you know that our southern regions produce almost no iron ore, so the steel industry is not developed at all. Both automobile and shipbuilding require large amounts of steel, which must be obtained through external transport and imports. Huichuan is situated on the Xi River channel, allowing it to quickly obtain cheap steel produced in Jianhu City and Lintao City in Yunxiao Province via water transport."
After Chen Donglai finished speaking, he suddenly realized that the feeling of being jostled had completely disappeared. He understood immediately and looked up out the car window. He saw neat rows of trees lining both sides of the road.
"Secretary Yue, we are now in Quanluo District; we have entered Huichuan territory," the driver said.
Yue Wangbei nodded. Then he asked again, "Has anyone told you the reason why the Central Government established Jiang'an Province?"
"Secretary, I know," Yang Xiaoshan answered quickly again. "First, it was to build the Wuyang Dam. Consolidating the dam area within a single administrative region is convenient for administration. Second, it was to 'relieve the burden' on Pingling Province. Before Jiang'an was carved out, the population of Old Pingling Province reached 110 million, making it Overburdened."
"There is one more point that is quite important," Chen Donglai said unhurriedly, unwilling to compete with Yang Xiaoshan for the floor. "Transferring Lintao City to Jiang'an Province was not just for building the Wuyang Dam; it was also hoped that Lintao's steel industry could complement Huichuan's manufacturing industry to achieve an advantageous synergy."
"Xiaoshan, learn more from Comrade Donglai. After all, he is someone who has read books," he said, pointing first to his Secretary sitting in the front passenger seat, and then to Chen Donglai beside him.
Upon hearing this, a surge of jealousy instantly rose in Yang Xiaoshan's heart; however, after thinking it over, he felt that Chen Donglai's understanding of industrial structure and economic policy was far superior to his own. He didn't even understand many of the terms Chen Donglai used. Yang Xiaoshan couldn't help but feel somewhat dejected and discouraged. Before he could fully process his emotions, he heard his Leader begin to speak again:
"In my opinion, the planning when Jiang'an was established as a province was not thorough enough," Yue Wangbei rolled down the car window. "Because there are too many poor regions within the province. Let me count them for you."
"First, the two autonomous prefectures: Pingba Prefecture transferred from Yunxiao Province, and our own Shuixiu Prefecture. Both prefectures are extremely poor; so poor that the Common People in their households can barely find a few decent clothes."
"Second, two impoverished regions. As of now, the Taikang Region has almost zero industrial foundation, except for two cotton textile mills that are somewhat scaled."
"Then look at our Shiliang Region. It seems to have shipbuilding and quite a few daily necessities manufacturing industries, so it does have some industrial foundation. However! The Shiliang Region is extremely likely to become the main Reservoir Area, or submerged area, after the Wuyang Dam stores water."
"Becoming the Reservoir Area means relocating millions of Common People. For Shiliang, this is absolutely a crushing burden."
"Out of nine prefectures and regions, four are poor areas. As for expecting Huichuan and Lintao to drive the development of the poor regions, ha." At this point, Yue Wangbei let out a cold laugh and said no more. But the three people present, including the driver, understood the meaning behind his words.
Even if Huichuan and Lintao had the most industrial foundations and the most precise technical coordination and complementary advantages, the fact that half the province's population lived below the poverty line would be hard to change.
Chen Donglai certainly knew this better than anyone. In 1990, Huichuan City's Gross Sheng Chan Zong Zhi successfully reached 32.7 billion RMB, ranking 5th in the entire country, making it a truly affluent region; Lintao was far behind Huichuan. Its scale was only 15.3 billion, but even that was not bad on a national scale.
What about Pingba, Shuixiu, Shiliang, and Taikang?
The four poor regions combined have 22 million people. That is half the province's population, yet their combined GDP is less than 15 billion!
In his Previous life, he served in Pingba Prefecture and had a deep impression of Pingba's poverty. That winter, he inspected poverty alleviation work in a poor village in Xiakou County, Pingba Prefecture. In the village, only the Village Committee building and the Health Clinic were reinforced concrete structures; the vast majority of other private homes and the village primary school were built with mud walls, almost collapsing if soaked by water.
The first thing he did after returning to the city was to approve a fund for school building maintenance for the Prefecture Education Bureau. No matter how hard things were, children should not suffer; at least the safety of school buildings had to be guaranteed. Otherwise, if a tragedy involving the deaths of a dozen people occurred, it would not only be a disaster but also bring severe consequences upon himself.
As for the contributions made by Huichuan and Lintao in helping Pingba escape poverty? Chen Donglai admitted that Pingba Prefecture had indeed taken over some industrial transfers from Huichuan and Lintao, but most of these were backward capacities, such as paper mills and printing factories, which offered limited help to their prefecture's poverty alleviation efforts.
In his view, relying on the two developed cities of Huichuan and Lintao to lead Jiang'an Province to comprehensive prosperity was nothing short of wishful thinking. The analogy of "two small dogs pulling a heavy cart" could not be more fitting.