novelThe Future of Heavenly Palace City
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On the second day of the Space Colonization Summit, fireworks were set off over the Mars colony.
It was a special kind of firework, not made out of gunpowder, but created through the pride of Future Group, its holographic projection technology.
Now that Future Group had mastered holographic technology's applications, it was possible to produce holographic image generating units into a string of spheres the size of glass beads. Then the beads were propelled into the air with electromagnetic artillery and the splendors of fireworks were projected in sequence.
The Mars colony had rehearsed countless times for this day.
No.
To be precise, it was called Heavenly Palace City now.
Just yesterday, the National Assembly of Xin formally approved the Mars colony application, and it became the fourth municipality in Xin after Lunar City. As the former governor of the Mars colony, Hong Zewei was also honored to become the mayor of Heavenly Palace City.
Like other municipalities, Heavenly Palace City abided by the constitution of Xin, and the mayor was directly appointed by Celestial Trade. Citizen approval rate and municipal performance indicators were used as the evaluation criteria for the mayor's performance, and this also meant that Heavenly Palace City could no longer operate as a "bottomless pit". Hong Zewei's biggest challenge over the next four years was how to turn the city from loss to profit.
Fortunately, Celestial Trade Marine Corps' military expenditures and costs for eliminating Devil Worms were not part of the cost associated with the municipality. Otherwise, the city would go bankrupt within two years.
"This is an opportunity, but also a challenge."
"Future Bank will provide us with a low-interest loan of 50 billion Xin New dollars. Although it is not required of us to turn losses into profit immediately, our budget will no longer be unlimited from now on, and our decision-making will also experience the test of an open market."
"I want to hear your opinions."
In the conference hall of Heavenly Palace City, Hong Zewei convened the leadership team. Most of these people were the first colonists to arrive on Mars. Their professional fields covered all aspects and they possessed a wealth of production and management experience in the colony.
The first to speak was Lugani, director of the Heavenly Palace City Population Bureau, an Italian from Rome who used to be an architectural engineer. The colony's oxygen and electricity transmission and distribution systems were his masterpieces.
"Next month, 2, 000 immigrants will be arriving in Heavenly Palace City, and now we have only 620 living spaces left. It is not just the problem of living space, but also the supply of water, electricity, oxygen, space suits, and other wearable equipment. These must be prioritized and solved as soon as possible."
"Is there any good solution?" Hong Zewei asked.
Hong Zewei considered this issue before the meeting began.
The cities on Mars and the cities on Earth were completely two extremes. On Mars, land was not expensive, but the house was. And the problem was not only limited to housing, but also food, air, freshwater, and electricity. These were all issues that must be carefully considered.
Before the city could intake these immigrants, the first task of Heavenly Palace City was to solve the settlement problem of these immigrants.
If the city had to expand its living units to accommodate more immigrants, it would require a project of 2 billion New Xin dollars. It was not that the city could not finance this project, but rather, all spending had to be carefully considered, since many areas required money, and every dollar had to be spent at the right place.
"Of course, " Lugani nodded, "In fact, the message from above is very clear, including the low-interest loans of 50 billion Xin New dollars. The Space Department hopes that we can solve the budget problem through the market, instead of blindly manufacturing and completing the task before, then ask for money once we reach the target."
"The problem is still money. Should immigrants pay out of their pockets?" Director of the Finance Bureau Dimit shook his head, "I guess no one can afford it."
"We can open tenders to the public and bring in international money to participate." Lugani made a concise point.
Everyone's eyes brightened and immediately understood what he meant.
In fact, it was not because they did not have the ability to think from this perspective. Many people, including the mayor Hong Zewei himself, still did not convert their way of thinking yet. After all, a few days ago, they were still using the budget from the Space Department, and today it suddenly became a loan from Future Bank. The senior management asked them to find a way to take care of their own profits and losses, but at this moment, they were still confused and lost.
"How should we do the bidding?" Hong Zewei looked at Lugani, "If we want others to build for us, we must at least let them see the potential for profitability."
"They will see the potential of profitability. As long as we promise them, the facilities they invest in and build in Heavenly Palace City will enjoy permanent housing and land property rights. This way, there will so many people who are willing to build houses for us out of their own pockets, hire our engineering team, and buy steel, aluminum alloy, and graphene from our factories. Not only do we not have to pay a penny, but we can also even profit from this."
As long as they introduced another legislation that all companies operating factories in Heavenly Palace City had to provide housing for their employees. At the same time, the next immigration wave would be set as a cut-off point, as the city would no longer provide free housing for new immigrants in the future, instead, it would be subsidized rent for five months during the unemployment period, then it would gradually transition the city's real estate to marketization.
"Are there any obstacles to implementing the policy?" Dimit hesitated.
"I can assure you that there is absolutely no problem!" Lugani nodded and said with certainty, "In fact, it can be seen from the Space Colonization Summit that the senior executives' message is very clear. They hope that more people will participate in the development of space resources and accelerate the progress of space colonization instead of letting us shoulder all the weight."
"A lot of people want to devote themselves to the craze of space resource development, but only a very small number of people can enjoy the benefits of Himalia."
"And now, we're providing another option for international capital."
Lugani's view was supported by most officials, which included Hong Zewei, who still searched for a solution to the budget problem.
From this moment on, his thought process started to change slightly from the position of the governor of the colony to the role of mayor.
The problem was not only in housing but also in factories.
Heavenly Palace City did not need to participate in every steel plant and every mining station. As the mayor, he could just zone an area, and a countless amount of money would flow in, and subsequently, factories would pop up like bamboo shoots after the rain.
These savvy entrepreneurs would not only try their best to improve the productivity of the factory for them but also find where to sell their products. Compared with those "public" steel plants in Heavenly Palace City that only complete production targets, these entrepreneurs would be more profit-driven, and they would balance products and production capacity based on demand.
As for whether it was profitable to set up a factory on Mars?
The answer was obvious.
The iron ore was cheaper than sand here, and the low-gravity environment meant this place was inherently more suitable for industrial production than Earth. Even if the expensive labor costs were included, the cost of producing a ton of steel was less than half of that of steel plants on Earth. With the gradual expansion of production, this number could go even lower.
When the colony on Himalia becomes completed, this place would have cheaper chemical raw materials than Earth.
Without a doubt.
In the not-too-distant future, this place would become the industrial base of the entire solar system!
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