Chapter 3525

Cheng Zhiguo attached great importance to such an opportunity. He knew how difficult it was for someone of his status to get to know the Chief Representative of the World Bank in China. Such an opportunity was too rare, and he must cherish it well.

Cheng Zhiguo was also very grateful to Su Xinghui. He knew that for the past year, he had been in charge of economic work, and Baozhou City's economic development had been rapid, which was mainly Su Xinghui's credit. Although he himself had also introduced some enterprises, they could not have any decisive influence on Baozhou City's economic development.

Therefore, as soon as they sat at the table, Cheng Zhiguo frequently toasted Nelson and Su Xinghui, and the atmosphere at the table suddenly became harmonious.

Nelson was a very straightforward person, at least on the surface. After drinking a few glasses of liquor, he said, "Mayor Su, Mayor Cheng, is it a bit too early for your Baozhou City to build a high-speed railway now? You are so close to the capital; does it make much sense to build a high-speed railway to the capital?"

Although Nelson and Su Xinghui were friends, this project involved nearly 8 billion in funds, which was a large investment. And he thought that since Baozhou City was so close to the capital and the expressway was about to be completed, it was already enough. Was it a bit unnecessary to build another high-speed railway?

Nelson was very familiar with China. He felt that Su Xinghui was doing this for the sake of political achievements. If so, he would have to persuade Su Xinghui to dispel this idea. After all, he still had to consider the safety of the World Bank's funds.

Su Xinghui smiled slightly and said, "Mr. Nelson, I understand your concerns, but we believe that it is still very necessary for our Baozhou City to build a high-speed railway..."

Su Xinghui gave a long speech to Nelson using the reasons he used to persuade Gu Shanmin. Nelson was indeed very straightforward; he nodded repeatedly and said, "If you put it this way, then it is indeed very necessary to build such a high-speed railway in Baozhou."

Su Xinghui said, "Yes, it can only be said that China is too big, and high-speed railway can bring people from all regions of China closer together."

Nelson said, "You are very right. Our European countries are relatively small, and it doesn't take too long to go anywhere, so sometimes I can't understand this idea of yours."

Su Xinghui smiled bitterly. European countries are indeed relatively small, and many are not as big as a city in China. But how developed is their transportation? Expressways are everywhere, there are many high-speed railways, and aviation networks are very developed. In short, the convenience of transportation can be said to be crushing the current China.

China is too far behind developed European and American countries in terms of transportation. To catch up with them is still a long and arduous task.

Su Xinghui said, "In short, this matter still needs Mr. Nelson's help. Baozhou City is in great need of loan assistance from the World Bank."

Nelson said, "This still requires us to go to the site to check the specific situation. If this high-speed railway indeed meets our loan conditions, we will not set any obstacles for your loan."

Su Xinghui knew that Nelson saying this actually meant he had already agreed. The next step was just a matter of going through the process. This project would, of course, meet the World Bank's loan conditions. This project was a key project supported by the state, with complete supporting funds, and Baozhou City's fiscal revenue was very sufficient, possessing enough repayment ability. For Nelson, this was also a high-quality project.

Projects need to find funds, and funds also need to find good projects. For such a high-quality client as Baozhou City and such a risk-free project, it was not easy for Nelson to find one.

Thus, everyone raised their glasses to drink heartily, and the atmosphere became more and more enthusiastic. Nelson's drinking capacity was quite large, and his eyes became brighter the more he drank. However, Su Xinghui was able to keep him company, and everyone drank very happily.

The next day, Su Xinghui and Cheng Zhiguo accompanied Nelson to tour several development zones in Baozhou and also looked at Baozhou's urban construction. Nelson was very shocked by Baozhou's construction achievements. He felt that Baozhou's development was not inferior to some big cities in Europe.

Especially companies like Ernest Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and Hanhai Technology could be counted as big companies even in Europe. Companies like Hanhai Technology could no longer be found in Europe that could compare with it.

With such development in Baozhou, Nelson now believed that Baozhou was indeed worth building a high-speed railway. If a high-speed railway was built here, it would indeed have great benefits for Baozhou City's economic development.

Of course, most importantly, Nelson believed that Baozhou City's fiscal revenue would give it sufficient repayment ability, which meant that the risk of this loan was not high. Moreover, Su Xinghui had cooperated with the World Bank many times without a single slip-up, and he had a good reputation.

Therefore, Nelson had basically decided to provide a loan for the Baozhou high-speed railway project. The amount of this loan would be around 2 billion, which was about one-fourth of the funds required for this project. As soon as the Baozhou high-speed railway project was successfully approved and the loan application was submitted to the World Bank, Nelson would help Baozhou City get the procedures done at the fastest speed.

The remaining funds would come from state appropriations, provincial supporting funds, financing from the Yanbei Provincial State-owned Assets Management Group, and the rest would be self-raised by Baozhou City.

As in the past, the reason why Su Xinghui attached such importance to World Bank loans was partly because the World Bank's loan interest rates were relatively low and financing costs were relatively low. Another part of the reason was because the World Bank had the world's best construction experts and supervision experts, and it was very strict and meticulous in management.

Su Xinghui had cooperated with the World Bank many times, and every project completed through cooperation was done very well, with excellent quality, while costs could be controlled within a relatively low range. The cost-effectiveness was quite high.

The matter of building a high-speed railway in Baozhou had now basically been decided, which made Su Xinghui breathe a long sigh of relief.

As long as Baozhou's high-speed railway was built, it would definitely be another huge driving force for Baozhou's economic development. Su Xinghui had felt the huge power of high-speed railway in his previous life. The high speed of high-speed railway made the distance between all important economic zones in the country seem to be greatly shortened. No matter where you went, you could arrive within a day. How great a promotion is this for economic development?

In 2005, it was recorded in world technological history as the first year of the new generation of smartphones. This was based on the release of the Hanhai mobile phone. Only phones like the Hanhai Generation I were called smartphones.

In the second half of this year, near the end of the year, several world-renowned mobile phone manufacturers hurriedly announced the launch of their own smartphones.

In fact, this was a rather hasty act. They only spent a few months designing their new mobile phones. However, they had no choice but to be hasty. If they waited any longer, the smartphone market would have been completely cannibalized by the Hanhai Generation I.

In any case, they had to launch their own mobile phones this year to compete with the Hanhai Generation I for the smartphone market.

Speaking of competing, it was actually overestimating them a bit. The Hanhai Generation I mobile phone had already established its position as the "big brother" in the global smartphone market, and no one could compete with it for the market.

These mobile phone manufacturers were just eating the leftovers of the Hanhai Generation I when its production capacity could not keep up.

They were also very helpless because the flagship mobile phones they launched earlier were produced in relatively large quantities because they were full of confidence. They didn't expect that shortly after they were launched, they would encounter the Hanhai Generation I mobile phone sweeping the high-end mobile phone market, so their flagship mobile phones were all piled up in the warehouse and couldn't be sold at all.

This caused them huge losses. If they didn't enter the smartphone market quickly, how could they make up for such huge losses?

For a time, heroes rose in the smartphone market. Several famous mobile phone manufacturers launched their own flagship phones, and some manufacturers even launched several smartphones at once, ranging from high-end to low-end, which made the smartphone market present a situation of "letting a hundred flowers bloom."

However, this did not cause any major impact on the Hanhai Generation I mobile phone. The Hanhai Generation I mobile phone was still sold as soon as it was produced, and there was no inventory at all. Everyone was still proud to own a Hanhai Generation I mobile phone.

Before the Hanhai Generation I mobile phone was released, the preparation time was long. Because the Xiaoyao mobile phone operating system was developed by themselves, they did the best in optimization and software compatibility, and their mobile phones were also much better in performance than the mobile phones manufactured by other mobile phone manufacturers.