Chapter 542

Returned to the office, Lu Fan lowered his head to review documents, and the Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau Director Lu Jing was made to stand as punishment.

Half an hour later, Lu Fan raised his head, looked at Lu Jing with a sharp gaze, and asked in a low voice: "Did you participate in the Tianhui Garden project?"

Lu Jing hurriedly said: "Secretary, I guarantee you with party principles that I have not participated in any project!" At this moment his legs went weak and cold sweat poured forth.

Lu Fan continued: "Whether there are problems, the Discipline Inspection Committee will investigate. Assigning you to be director of the Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau is to let you solve problems—is this your work performance? If you cannot solve the people's 'urgent, difficult, and worrisome' matters, what's the point of you being a director?"

After scolding him for several minutes, Lu Fan sternly asked: "How many problematic housing projects are left in Nanyuan?"

Lu Jing immediately replied: "Secretary, I recently compiled statistics on stalled buildings and problematic projects; the city has a total of 239 projects with prominent problems, concentrated in six aspects: stalled projects 50 items, wage arrears 42 items, demolition and resettlement 45 items, property rights transactions 59 items, property management 27 items, incomplete procedures 16 items. The developers of many problematic projects face difficulties for various reasons: some due to market factors, some due to internal shareholder struggles, some are outright scams, some lost money in gambling, some due to poor management."

Lu Fan frowned and said: "Whether they deliberately court death or are struck down by a falling meteorite, the reason these developers impose such a heavy burden on society ultimately lies in their high leverage. This is a tragedy occurring under the tacit approval of the system, a legal disaster, a systemic disaster!"

"Past events serve as lessons for the future." These problems have already laid bare the price and consequences of the market's overly aggressive development. Under the lure of low barriers and high profits, a flood of enterprises poured into the real estate market, mixing good and bad, chaos abounding. Moreover, developers should not hold the attitude: "As long as you get your house, that's fine; what do you need a bicycle for?" They should respect homeowners and maintain a sense of awe.

The pre-sale presale system for commodity housing is the true root of disaster! These problems and phenomena, Nanyuan must govern and reflect. I give you another chance: the Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau will take the lead, relevant departments will cooperate, and we will establish a Special Task Force for Resolving Prominent Problems of Problematic Real Estate Projects, with me as team leader, the Deputy Secretary as deputy team leader, public security, procuratorate, and judiciary participating, and the task force office located in the Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau. Let the prominent problematic projects of Nanye City be fully exposed to the public, and launch the 'crackdown battle' on resolving prominent problems! You go prepare immediately, convene the first meeting of the task force within three days, and assign the tasks to the local levels and relevant departments.

Lu Jing looked at Lu Fan with a determined gaze and said: "Please rest assured, Secretary, I will not disappoint you again..."

"If these 239 problems are not properly resolved, you should submit your resignation!"

……

As work was about to end, Lu Fan received a call from Governor Liu Linghao and hurriedly answered.

"Lu Fan, your public notice period is about to end; have you decided on your next posting?"

Lu Fan replied: "Governor, to be honest, I really don't know where I'll go next, but I should stay within Huayuan Province."

Liu Linghao said: "According to my analysis, you should become a Deputy Provincial Governor; I have already begun arranging your responsibilities. If you truly make it to the Provincial Government, I plan to put you in charge of agricultural work. You must take the lead in rural revitalization, charging forward! I think you can plan ahead; in the coming years, the focus of the province's agricultural work will be the rapid development of the green food industry, accelerated construction of modern agricultural industrial parks, and continual improvement of rural infrastructure and public services."

Lu Fan replied: "Please rest assured, Governor; if I go to the Provincial Government, I will diligently and conscientiously fulfill my duties under your leadership, solidly pushing all work to a higher level."

……

By August 10, Lu Fan's public notice period ended; the whole province was buzzing, the Deputy Provincial Governor position was vacant, and Deputy Provincial Governor Lu was about to take office.

The Municipal Party Secretary of Nanyuan City has become the hottest topic; everyone knows that whoever "snags" this position will reap enormous wealth, and the credit for a trillion-yuan GDP could fall on anyone's head—what an honor and résumé!

Within the province, undercurrents are surging; at least a dozen or so bureau-level leaders are fighting tooth and nail for the position, especially Zhoujiakou Mayor Lei Xingxing, who is pulling out all stops, either staying in the province or running to Jingcheng.

After dinner, Mayor Su Xiang Hai saw the Secretary strolling in the courtyard and immediately came down to "report work".

The two walked and talked, and Su Xiang Hai said: "Secretary, in recent years, Nanyuan's real estate market has been highly profitable, with low entry barriers and little startup capital, so many developers did not follow normal procedures for permits and planning. Selling properties without complete documents, without pre-sale permits or construction licenses, and then moving on to develop other projects easily breaks the entire capital chain."

Lu Fan said: "Therefore, corruption is inevitably involved. How dare developers sell houses without the five certificates? Where has supervision gone? After housing prices surge, they want to backtrack, using the lack of five certificates as an excuse to get homeowners to return their homes—where is supervision then? Has Nanyuan become a free kingdom for developers to do as they please? Without anyone acting as a 'protective umbrella', dare they act so recklessly? So first we must drag out all the behind-the-scenes black hands, cut off their hands, and many problems will be readily solved. As for the developers, the law will punish them."

"This also shows, from another angle, that for urban development the government sometimes pursues quick gains. In fact, homeowners also have reasons: for cheaper houses, they sign contracts with developers even when they know the five certificates are lacking, and some contracts are seriously nonstandard; homeowners don't examine them carefully, and some contracts even lack developer breach clauses, only containing penalties for homeowner breach. Secretary, no matter what, the City Government will take the lead in properly handling these stalled buildings, doing everything possible to let the people live in peace and prosperity."

"Wanting a small advantage is understandable; ordinary people don't have that high level of awareness and rights consciousness, so as governors serving the people we must have a people-centered mindset, act as masters for the people, and try to minimize their losses."

After walking a while longer, Su Xiang Hai gathered his courage and asked: "Secretary, after your promotion, do I have a chance?"

Lu Fan laughed and said: "There is definitely a chance, but the competition is too fierce. As for me, I certainly hope you get promoted, but there is some difficulty; I have discussed this several times with Deputy Secretary Tang Bing, she has not expressed a stance, I think there is still a chance, and I will do my utmost to help you strive for it—your biggest shortcoming is that your term is too short."

Su Xiang Hai gratefully said: "Thank you for your trust and support, Secretary; I will keep this favor in my heart!"

"Gain it calmly, lose it lightly, strive for it inevitably, follow nature. Keep a peaceful mindset, focus your thoughts on work, and don't worry about anything else. Even if the outcome is not as desired, there will still be opportunities later."

On August 12, the province suddenly received major news: the Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee Secretary Hu Jiaoyu was quietly transferred away to work in the inspection group.

This unexpected personnel adjustment immediately sparked heated discussion among Huayuan Province cadres; many speculated whether Secretary Hu had made a mistake, as there were already many rumors about him in the province.

When the person leaves, the tea grows cold; everyone is now more concerned about who will succeed the Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee Secretary.

Suddenly, everyone thought: the Municipal Party Secretary of Nanyuan City, Lu Fan, has just been inspected, and the Discipline Inspection Committee Secretary position just became vacant—could it be that they are clearing the way for him?

Thus, Lu Fan's new position was again arranged by the Civil Organization Department to be the Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee Secretary.

Now Huayuan Province is abuzz; although Lu Fan serves in Nanyuan City, over the past two years cadres from all cities and counties have often heard of his "might," and with word-of-mouth from Nanyuan cadres and masses, Lu Fan enjoys an excellent reputation throughout Huayuan Province, especially his hatred of corrupt elements.

Huayuan people began to expect Lu Fan to serve as Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee Secretary, to launch a mighty anti-corruption storm!

Even Governor Liu Linghao began to wonder whether Lu Fan was really going to the Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee; he also specially discussed Lu Fan's future with Executive Deputy Provincial Governor Huang Chongzhou, but the outcome remained uncertain.

The only person in the whole province who knows the inside story is Secretary Tang Bing, but she has not leaked any information to anyone, because Lu Fan's appointment still carries some uncertainty.

At this point, Lu Fan has already let go of his mindset and shifted his focus to work.

On August 13, the Municipal Party Committee of Nanyuan City held a special meeting to study issues related to the handling of stalled buildings.

At the meeting, Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee Wang Hong announced the establishment of the Special Task Force for Resolving Prominent Problems of Problematic Real Estate Projects in Nanyuan City, with Municipal Party Secretary Lu Fan personally serving as team leader, and the Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee and the Executive Vice Mayor serving as deputy team leaders.

The Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau reported the overall situation of problematic real estate projects; the responsible persons of 16 counties and districts received letters assigning the resolution of prominent problems of 239 problematic projects, with a deadline of November 30.

Municipal Party Secretary Lu Fan spoke with a heavy heart: "Comrades, Nanyuan City's economy is growing rapidly, exceeding 500 billion yuan in half a year, but in the process we still have many pending issues to be resolved!"

Once, our Nanyuan's stalled buildings became an annual routine exposé by top domestic media; as a result, when Nanyuan residents go elsewhere, they are inevitably teased.

Our citizens, aside from annual indignation and helplessness, are mostly anxiously waiting.

Superficially, stalled buildings are a historical legacy issue for Nanyuan; in reality, they are a bad asset in the city's economy, a debt from past frenzied urban construction! Behind them often lie difficulties in demolition and resettlement, illegal construction, multiple sales of the same unit, incomplete procedures, broken capital chains, and assets being seized or frozen.

Solving the stalled building problem requires more than just local orders; it is also an economic calculation, needing more flexible policies and a more open, regulated market, as well as a mature operational model to drive resolution.

What Comrade Wang Hong and the Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau just said was very specific; I will reiterate: handling stalled buildings boils down to these few measures: first, have quality developers take over continuation and management; second, reconceptualize and complete the replan; third, streamline approvals for stalled building remediation—give the green light, expedite processing, especially for resettlement projects, tailored to local conditions, one building, one plan.