Chapter 468 Planning the Hung Hom Cross-Harbour Tunnel
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 Chinese businessman in Hong Kong today, it seems normal for him to be questioned.
So he said: "Everyone, please think about this from a rational perspective. Many times, imaginations are beautiful, such as a world without wars and rich people giving their surplus money to the poor. But in fact, this is impossible. The whole society still needs certain rules.
Even if it is charity, even if it can save the lives of 100,000 people, the consent of the rich must be obtained, otherwise society will only become very chaotic and the losses caused will be even greater. "
After listening to this, Trembling's eyes lit up and he said with a smile, "Mr. Yang is right. What do you suggest?"
After hearing this, no one else objected. Even Ye Xien knew that his proposal was only intended to put pressure on Jardine Matheson. No country in the world would agree to his demands. If he forced a loss-making company to sell itself, the basic foundation of modern society would collapse.
Yang Wendong went on to say: "This is very simple. We can just compromise and the Hong Kong government can just add a ferry license, just like when Rediffusion Television was the only major player, the Hong Kong government issued a new television station license; the same was true for Hong Kong's electricity, minibuses and docks in the early years."
John Keswick's face suddenly changed again after hearing this, and he immediately said: "This is absolutely not possible. Now one ferry company is losing money, and if the two companies operate together, the loss will only be greater."
Ye Xien immediately retorted: "Mr. Keswick, I think this is better for Jardine. Your company has a loss of 120 million a year. If there is one more company to share the loss for you, wouldn't it help you save 60 in losses?"
"." John Keswick was again at a loss as to how to respond. Now he understood that although Yang Wendong seemed to be defending the "capitalist" group, he was actually targeting himself.
Yang Wendong still said gently: "Mr. Keswick, we are all doing business. Since you, Jardine Matheson, are maintaining a public infrastructure business like the Star Ferry at a loss, I think there are many other people in Hong Kong who are doing the same."
The potential of the Star Ferry is actually very limited, especially after the opening of the undersea tunnel in the future, its role will gradually change from a "transportation tool" to a "sightseeing tourism tool".
But like China Motors and Kowloon Motor Bus, the core infrastructure business is not profitable. However, for the core infrastructure business, there are a large number of berths, office spaces and warehouses on both sides of Victoria Harbour. The future value of these locations is needless to say. No one is unmoved. In history, after Pao Yue-kong seized Kowloon Wharf, he also used the land of the Star Ferry to develop a number of properties.
At this time, the representative of the Hong Kong Telephone Company also said: "Mr. Yang, this approach is even worse. If a livelihood enterprise opens another one because it can't make money, it will only lead to no one investing in the livelihood industry. This will be a huge loss for Hong Kong."
Representatives of companies such as China Light and Power and Hong Kong Electric also strongly agree with this. In their eyes, the Star Ferry is just a small company, but now it is very important because it has aroused the indignation of the Chinese people. How the Hong Kong government handles this matter today is very important to these monopoly conglomerates.
This is also the reason why Jardine Matheson refused to back down. If it backed down, all British monopoly consortiums would no longer be able to make money easily as before.
Trench agreed and said, "Mr. Yang, the process of adding licenses is also very long, and the Star Ferry already has sufficient transport capacity. It would be unfair to the Star Ferry Company to issue licenses later."
"Then I have another idea." Yang Wendong stated his purpose: "Build a tunnel between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. This will alleviate the problem of the Star Ferry. More importantly, once the tunnel is opened, the traffic between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon will increase more than tenfold in an instant, especially for various cars and trucks. The operation will be very convenient."
Everyone fell silent after hearing this. The issue of building a tunnel has actually been debated for more than ten years, but construction has never started. One reason 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 was built, it would definitely be a devastating blow to the Star Ferry. However, it was not easy for him to openly oppose such a business that was beneficial to Hong Kong at such a meeting. Other British investors did not care.
Trench said: "Mr. Yang, the cross-sea tunnel has actually been discussed since the last Governor Robert Black, but there are many problems. According to our estimate, the investment will be at least HK$2 million.
Moreover, the speed of recovery is difficult to predict. With the current traffic volume in Hong Kong, it may be impossible to recover the investment in a lifetime. In addition, the engineering difficulty is very high. It is not cost-effective to invest so much money in the undersea tunnel for other urgent projects in Hong Kong. "
"The Governor's consideration is indeed correct, but I think Hong Kong can imitate some European and American countries and contract projects to private enterprises. In this way, wouldn't the risks 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 a large project is naturally very cautious.
In the 60s, there were many infrastructure problems in other parts of Hong Kong. For example, frequent heavy rains caused floods in many places, and the Hong Kong government had no money, so the "Type B Land Exchange Agreement" that was more famous in later generations was born; and Hong Kong's land could not retain water, which would often lead to droughts. The Hong Kong government had to spend money to buy water from the mainland and invest in building reservoirs.
Other basic infrastructure 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 important to Hong Kong at this moment.
Everyone understood what Yang Wendong meant. Trench asked, "Mr. Yang, do you want to invest in the Hung Hom Cross-Harbour Tunnel?"
Yang Wendong smiled and said, "I can't guarantee that, but if the conditions are right, I will consider it." Now that Hong Kong's housing prices have begun to rise, it is not the best time to reach an agreement with the Hong Kong government. However, for such a large-scale project, it is normal for the preliminary negotiations to take a year or so, so it is most appropriate to propose it now and wait until the real estate market collapses and the British Hong Kong government is ready to run away before discussing the price and conditions.
Furthermore, if such a project had been announced to start construction in 67, it would have helped boost the confidence of Chinese people in Hong Kong.
The project was completed in about two or three years, around 69-70. By that time, Hong Kong's economy would have started to take off, and the cross-harbour tunnel would have been able to give it another boost, which would have been perfect.
"Okay, then we'll talk alone later." Dai Linzhi was also tempted.
Any Governor of Hong Kong or local governing official hopes to achieve certain results during his tenure, so that he will be eligible to compete with others for higher positions in the future. Even if he achieves a certain level of performance, it can still become an important milestone on his resume.
Performance as a thing requires physical support. Even if Hong Kong's economy takes off several times during one term of office, this is too abstract and is far inferior to a real large-scale project, especially a landmark public building.
"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded and agreed.
At this time, Ye Xien said: "If Mr. Yang can invest in the undersea tunnel, it will indeed be a blessing for the people of Hong Kong, but distant water cannot quench immediate thirst. This cannot alleviate the current problems, so please reconsider the current situation."
Everyone agreed that the current chaos was the most important thing. If it was not controlled, the losses would only grow, just like a bank run, or even worse. If the Hong Kong government wanted to control a bank run, it could basically suppress it. But now it is completely different. The Hong Kong government is also helpless unless it uses violence to suppress it, but the consequences will be uncontrollable.
Yang Wendong stopped expressing any opinions. Even if there was no Star Ferry, there would be other reasons for this to happen. The fundamental reason was that the Chinese were becoming more and more powerful and would inevitably resist the British Hong Kong government.
A three-hour meeting ultimately yielded nothing. The Jardine Matheson Group refused to give in. Millions or even tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars were nothing to Jardine Matheson, but they represented the core interests of British capital in Hong Kong.
Ye Xi'en naturally refused to give in either, while Dai Linzhi tried to mediate between the two sides to avoid escalation of the conflict. In the end, nothing was reached, and as it was already afternoon, the meeting was finally adjourned.
After having a light meal at the Governor's House, Yang Wendong received an invitation from the Governor and came to the Governor's Office;
"Mr. Yang, please sit down." Dai Linzhi said with a smile.
Yang Wendong politely replied: "Thank you, Mr. Governor."
As soon as a secretary served coffee, Trench asked directly, "Mr. Yang, there are only two of us here. What do you think of the current situation?"
Sometimes, when there are too many people around, you can't talk too much. This applies everywhere.
Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "Mr. Governor, this matter is really difficult to resolve. The Star Ferry wants to raise fares, but ordinary citizens disagree. In this case, either Jardine Matheson or tens of thousands of citizens must give in. There is no other way. Others can do nothing."
He didn't want to get involved in this mess. Standing on either side would offend the other side. If the Governor hadn't invited him personally, he wouldn't want to attend the morning meeting.
"Yes, but the cost of infrastructure in any country will always increase." Trench said, "Take the undersea tunnel that Mr. Yang mentioned this morning. After operating for decades, the cost will inevitably increase, right?"
"That's true. 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, and early infrastructure investments will inevitably increase in cost when spread out over the future, so price increases are inevitable.
Even in the mainland of the past, state-owned enterprises controlled many daily necessities, but it was very difficult to raise water and electricity prices. In fact, domestic electricity prices have only increased by less than 100% in the past few decades. This is incredible in any country. If it were not for the rapid development of the country's industry and the sharp increase in the electricity market, which spread the cost, it would simply not be possible.
Trench also knew that there was no perfect solution to this kind of problem, so he asked again, "Mr. Yang, is the underwater tunnel you mentioned this morning serious?"
"If it's appropriate, I'm willing to invest." Yang Wendong nodded: "Even the release of this news may ease the situation."
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(End of this chapter)