The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 293: Golden Bridge and Silver Road Tunnel
The meeting moved on to the next topic.

When he saw the next topic, Liu Tao couldn't help but show shock.

highway!
The country needs to build highways!
When Liu Tao saw the highway route on the map, he was shocked.

A middle-aged man was reporting: "This expressway runs from Shenyang to Haikou, with a total length of 3710 kilometers, running through the southeast coastal area. The total investment is estimated to be 108 billion yuan."

"We have built a pilot expressway in Shanghai, the 'Shanghai-Jiading Expressway', which starts from Qilianshan Road in Shanghai's urban area in the south and ends at Jiading South Gate in the north. It is 15.9 kilometers long, and together with the access roads at both ends, it is 20.5 kilometers long, 45 meters wide, with four lanes, a designed speed of 4 kilometers per hour, and a total investment of 120 million yuan."

"According to our tests, all indicators have met the design requirements."

Liu Tao swallowed his saliva. He didn't expect that the country would be so generous as to launch the Shenhai Expressway in such a short time.

In order to build a highway, an experimental highway was also built in Shanghai.

Other leaders were discussing the matter.

"The investment is too huge. Money is needed everywhere now. 108 billion RMB is more than half of the annual military budget." A leader shook his head.

Another leader said: "That's not true. This highway connects the entire coastal area, which can promote economic development and is also convenient for troop deployment."

"But the investment is too big. We have to invest so much money to build this expressway for vehicles to pass through. But how many cars are there in the country now? How many years will it take to collect tolls to make back the investment?" A leader frowned and said, "Instead of doing this, it would be better to build more railways. The cost of railways is not that high, and it can save a lot of money."

There was a lot of controversy among the leaders, some agreed and some opposed.

After all, with such a huge investment of 108 billion, even though the situation is much better now than a few years ago, there are still many places where the money needs to be spent, and no amount of money will be enough.

"Comrade Liu Tao, please tell us what you think." The leader looked at Liu Tao.

Liu Tao said without hesitation: "Build it! We should build it!"

He didn't know how much money the highway could make, but he remembered a saying: Golden Bridges, Silver Roads, and Diamond Tunnels!

This shows how profitable it is to build highways.

Panshan Group has money, a lot of money.

The production base is under construction, the reservoir and hydropower station are under construction, and the roads are also under construction.

In fact, Liu Tao is also building a test section of the expressway in Kunming, which is from the headquarters of Panshan Group to the urban area of ​​Kunming.

"If you leaders think that the investment in Shenhai Expressway is too large, you can consider letting our Panshan Group invest in the construction of Shenhai Expressway. After it is completed, we will only need to collect expressway tolls for 30 years." Liu Tao said.

"Are you willing to invest in its construction?" the leader asked in surprise.

Liu Tao nodded: "We are willing to invest in the construction of the Shenhai Expressway."

"Land acquisition and demolition along the expressway need to be coordinated by governments at all levels," Liu Tao said. "During this troop streamlining, we resettled some retired soldiers and formed a construction company, which happened to be able to build a section of the expressway."

"It would be best if you are willing to invest, and the government can also save a lot of money." The leader nodded and said, "Then you will work with the Ministry of Transportation and the Planning Commission on this matter."

Once the matter was finalized, the topic was not discussed further and the leaders who had originally opposed it did not say anything more.

In the afternoon, Liu Tao met with the Ministry of Transport, the Planning Commission and the Design Institute.

At this point, the design institute has completed the planning and design of the line, but some are wide and some are narrow, with two lanes and some are four lanes.

Liu Tao said: "The entire highway has eight lanes in both directions, and a service area is set up at regular intervals."

Liu Tao is no stranger to highways. Even if he has never built a highway, has he never driven one?
"But if this is done, the total cost of the project will increase a lot, requiring at least 300 billion yuan in investment." The Ministry of Transportation frowned slightly, "And if it is built so wide, will there be so much traffic?"

Liu Tao sighed in his heart. Who could have imagined that thirty or forty years later, almost every household would have a private car? During festivals, highways would often be jammed.

Liu Tao naturally hates this kind of traffic jam on the highway.

Since we are going to build, we should naturally build it better and build it to a higher standard.

Once a building is constructed, the quality of the work must be high, rather than just being repaired every year.

"We, Panshan Group, will handle the money issue, and the standards will be implemented according to what I proposed," said Liu Tao.

The problem was resolved through communication, and a few days passed before Liu Tao had to return to Yunnan Province again.

This time, he did not develop weapons, but construction vehicles.

Bulldozers, excavators, roller compactors and tunnel boring machines specifically for digging tunnels.

If you want to improve construction efficiency, these construction tools are inevitable.

I used to think it was unnecessary and focused my energy on weapons development, but now I have to consider this aspect.

If it were imported exclusively, I don’t know how much money would be made.

These are not difficult for Liu Tao, so why should he let others make money from them?

As August approaches, the world seems equally lively.

First, the British Expeditionary Force won a resounding victory and captured the entire Argentine navy.

Just three days after the British Expeditionary Force completed its landing, the Argentine Army, which had suffered a disastrous defeat, raised its hands and surrendered.

Britain announced the surrender of the Afghan army, ending the war.

Gary Tierney fled to the United States and became a wealthy man.

The British Expeditionary Force was victorious, but Britain was not victorious because the losses were too great and its own weakness was exposed.

The empire on which the sun never sets is truly gone forever.

But Mrs. Thatcher's reputation was on the rise, and her tough attitude made her image as the "Iron Lady" more prominent. When the British army suffered a huge setback, the tough attitude and superb political skills she showed won her huge reputation.

At the end of August, with the mediation of all parties, the Israeli army withdrew its troops, and both sides declared victory and a temporary ceasefire was reached.

At this point, neither side could fight any more.

The Israeli army lost hundreds of fighter jets, hundreds of helicopters, three warships, thousands of tanks and armored vehicles, suffered more than 40,000 casualties, and consumed countless weapons and ammunition.

The guerrillas, the Syrian army and other parties lost more than 200 aircraft of various types, more than 1,000 tanks and armored vehicles, more than 60,000 casualties, a large number of civilians were displaced, and many buildings were destroyed.

More importantly, the pressure from the United States is increasing, and Europe is also exerting pressure.

This makes Saudi Arabia and other countries quite cautious and they do not want to completely break off relations.

With the end of the Falklands War and the Fifth Middle East War, the entire world situation suddenly eased. No one had to worry about the S3 season suddenly breaking out.

The weapons, equipment and ammunition produced by Panshan Group are continuously shipped out to the Middle East almost every half a month, either by sea or by land.

(End of this chapter)