Chapter 216 Peasant Issues
August 2002 was a month of energy and hope for Green Vine.
At the beginning of the month, the investment promotion conference was a huge success, attracting many investors and companies.
With this wave of investment promotion, more and more companies have chosen to settle down in Luteng City.
These companies cover various fields, including manufacturing, technology, service industry, etc., injecting new impetus into the economic development of Green Vine City.
After entering September, Luteng City's investment promotion boom continues.
One after another, companies have settled in the area, which has not only created a large number of employment opportunities for Luteng, but also promoted the vigorous development of related industries.
The arrival of these companies has made the originally quiet land lively, and various construction projects are in full swing.
Even people like Gao Mingyuan had to go with the trend and dared not hinder the progress of the project.
By December, this round of investment frenzy had finally died down.
In just less than half a year, Luteng City has welcomed the establishment of hundreds of projects, and nearly 600 billion yuan of funds have poured into this most backward city in Handong Province.
The introduction of funds for these projects has brought new vitality to Green Vine City, and all walks of life have undergone earth-shaking changes.
Qi Tongwei is very clear that introducing a project does not mean success. It is also necessary to ensure that the project is smoothly promoted and put into production and market, so as to bring more employment opportunities and tax revenue.
To this end, he personally participates in and guides all work to ensure that each project progresses smoothly.
At the same time, he assigned responsibility for all projects to individuals, clarified everyone's job responsibilities, and emphasized the principle of not making things difficult for the company.
He asked everyone to proactively provide quality services and solve the difficulties and problems faced by enterprises.
Of course, this does not mean that the standards for corporate management have been relaxed. Qi Tongwei is not one of those people who do not care about bottom line for political achievements. He will resolutely deal with companies with problems.
Thanks to this wave of investment, Luteng City finally escaped from the predicament of being at the bottom of the list for many years, and Qi Tongwei was praised by the provincial party committee and government.
From this moment on, his reputation as an expert in economic development was established. As long as he persisted and brought Green Vine's economy to the top three in Handong Province, he, Qi Tongwei, would be a major figure in Handong's reform, and his path to becoming a minister had been paved.
However, this is only Qi Tongwei's first full year in charge of Greenvine. Most projects have not yet been put into production, tax revenue has not increased significantly, and the things Qi Tongwei wants to do most lack financial support.
Of course, he was not discouraged. Everything about Green Ivy was developing in a positive direction, and the government's reputation was also beginning to change slowly.
The days passed, and in the blink of an eye it was the eve of the Spring Festival.
As the head of the municipal government, Qi Tongwei started a series of people-friendly activities. Although these activities may be seen as a show, for him, they are necessary work.
This time, Qi Tongwei did not let his staff determine the locations for the visits, but decided to personally randomly select some families for visits.
The reason for doing this is very simple. If you follow the arrangements of the staff below during the visit, then you will most likely meet "actors" who have been arranged in advance, and you will not be able to truly understand the real situation of the grassroots people.
This phenomenon was not something Qi Tongwei imagined out of thin air. In fact, he had heard of similar things in his previous life.
At that time, a senior leader came to Qijia Village for inspection, and the local government learned the news half a month ago, and then they took a series of measures to prepare for the leader's arrival.
They filled every household's granary with food and replaced their bedding and home appliances with new ones.
As a result, when this great leader came to the village, the scene he saw was naturally one of prosperity and people living and working in peace and contentment.
However, all this is just superficial work. In fact, these so-called "achievements" are just illusions created to deal with inspections from superiors.
Since Qi Tongwei knew about this situation, he naturally would not give his subordinates time to react.
Although his whereabouts could be hidden from his subordinates, even if they knew the general direction on that day, they did not know which village or household he was going to.
Through this method, Qi Tongwei saw the real life of some farmers in Luteng City.
Let him understand that he has a long way to go in the future and he cannot rely on one leg to walk on it.
"Old man, how is the weather this year? Can you eat enough?" Qi Tongwei asked gently.
An old farmer in ordinary clothes sat opposite Qi Tongwei. He ignored the looks of the local government officials and said, "It's a good year. The grain harvest is good and we can have enough to eat."
Just as the local government officials breathed a sigh of relief, they heard the old man say, "But this year's grain prices have dropped significantly, and our income has not increased but has decreased a lot.
Income has decreased, but expenses have increased. Life is worse than last year!"
Qi Tongwei was silent for a moment, then asked, "Old man, what are the main expenses of your family?"
"First, there are the school fees for my grandchildren, second, medical treatment and medicine, and some personal connections also require money.
After taking all factors into consideration, I not only didn't save any money after working hard for a year, but I also owed a lot of money for famine." The old man said with dissatisfaction.
Qi Tongwei was born in the countryside and could understand the old man's mentality very well. He said, "Old man, this is the problem of our government. We have failed to do a good job in rural work and have ignored the interests of the farmers.
You taught me a lesson today, which made me realize that we should not only look at GDP, but also at the actual income and living conditions of the people. "
Feeling ashamed, Qi Tongwei left the old man's house after leaving some gifts of comfort. He then went to the homes of more than a dozen other farmers and received similar feedback as the old man.
Qi Tongwei ended his visit with a sense of loss.
This round of condolence activities made him realize that he still had a long way to go in his work.
If he cannot solve the poverty problem of more than 500 million farmers in Luteng City, Luteng cannot be considered to have developed well, and Qi Tongwei cannot be considered to have been successful.
On the way, Qi Tongwei thought about the problem he encountered, but he couldn't find a solution for a while.
Increasing farmers' income is not only a big problem in Luteng, but also a big problem across the country. Even before his rebirth, it was still an unsolved problem.
Fortunately, Luteng is located in the south, where the grain production is quite high, so the farmers are not starving. If it were in the west, there would be many farmers who would not have enough food.
After returning to the city, Qi Tongwei asked his secretary Xu Pengfei to find various agricultural data and information. He wanted to see how to solve the problems existing in rural areas.
The reason for the drop in food prices was soon discovered.
After China joined the WTO, agricultural products from the United States and other countries entered our country. The other side relied on mechanization and had relatively low costs, which led to a drop in food prices, and it was naturally difficult for farmers to increase their income.
Qi Tongwei was very clear that this was a serious problem.
Low grain prices hurt farmers. If grain prices continue to fall, farmers' enthusiasm will be dampened and land will become barren.
If the land becomes barren, our country's grain market will be handed over to foreign grain traders. Once these people occupy the grain market, China will be controlled by others.
Qi Tongwei thought about it and felt that this matter could not be taken lightly, but the New Year was approaching, so this problem could only be solved after the New Year.