Mediterranean Hegemony Road

At the beginning of the ten-year plan, the Bulgarian government was busy again. The general outline plan has been set, and there are still a lot of sub-projects in it. There are discussions that need to be discussed and projects that need to be established.

Right now, what the cabinet is most worried about is the road construction bidding meeting, which involves tens of billions of leva of capital investment. All the people in the world who have the strength to participate in the bidding are in the single digits. If no one comes, it will be embarrassing.

Constantine asked with concern: "How is it, how many consortiums have signed up?"

Transport Minister Behir Ivanov thought for a while and said, "So far, only two consortiums have signed up!"

Hearing this result, Constantine breathed a sigh of relief, as long as someone signed up. This kind of long-term investment, there are very few strong investments.

After all, after more than ten years of pure investment, there is no hope of returning to capital in the next twenty or thirty years. Capitalists are all profit-seeking, so how can they flock here?

Constantine asked, "The two consortiums?"

Beshir-Ivanov shook his head and said: "It's not an international consortium, both of which are temporarily formed by our domestic capitalists, led by Union Bank and Royal Bank, who came forward and pulled a group of people. , prepare to participate in this bidding!"

Hearing that it was a group of domestic capitalists, Constantine could basically guess the result. Except for these two banks, other capitalists simply did not have this appeal, let alone the financial resources!

Although the National Bank also claims to be one of the three major domestic banks, it is a pity that when it comes to financial strength, it has been left far behind by these two banks.

Even if the government puts all its fiscal funds in the National Bank, it still cannot reverse the current situation of their weak storage capacity.

The Royal Bank absorbed the deposits of a large number of peasants, nobles and some workers and capitalists, and the Union Bank absorbed the deposits of most capitalists and workers, and the positioning of the country was somewhat blurred.

In the beginning, because of the service attitude, it was overtaken by the two new private banks. Although the service has been improved later, it has not had much effect!

Especially after the two major banks obtained the right to banknotes, this advantage became even more obvious. Although the National Bank has government endorsements, the two major banks also have hundreds of tons of gold deposited there as security deposits, and their safety is unquestionable.

Before this, the government had not let the National Bank take the lead to form a joint company to bid, but unfortunately the investment amount was too large and the rate of return was too low, so few people were willing to participate, and the management of the National Bank was also very resistant to this time. invest.

It cannot be said that their judgment is wrong. After all, it is difficult for this project to make a profit from the perspective of the return on investment. Even if it can make money, it will be a matter of thirty or fifty years.

Constantine asked with concern: "Which companies are participating in the country?"

Beshear thought for a while and said, "It's basically domestic oil companies and automobile manufacturers, as well as related industries in these fields. I have already read the bidding reports they submitted.

They hope to expand the market and increase the profits of enterprises by improving traffic, but they are not very concerned about whether the highway itself is profitable.

Judging from their plans, their expectations for this project are very low. The plan will be able to achieve capital breakeven within 20 years and recover the investment within 50 years! "

Constantine rubbed his forehead and said, "Our road project won't be so bad, will it? It will take fifty years to pay off?"

Beshear shook his head and said, "I don't know! In theory, the maximum number of motor vehicles in our country in ten years' time can reach 10 million, of which the number of small cars can reach two to three million. vehicle.

Considering that in order to protect agricultural production and the daily life of residents, the government will limit the oil prices of agricultural vehicles, trucks, and public transport vehicles. It is almost impossible for them to make money from these two or three million cars!

Even if the annual fuel cost of each car is as high as 2,000 levs, they have half of the huge profits, but only 2-3 billion levs of gross profit, after deducting the maintenance cost of the road, the operating cost of the gas station, and the capital interest After the cost, they are still at a loss! "

Constantine stopped talking. If this is the case, it is estimated that only these directly benefited companies will come to invest. After all, once the road is completed, their market will expand several times. Even if this investment is not profitable, it will be in other areas where there is no profit.

Time passed quickly, and it was December 12, 1921. The bidding meeting organized by the Ministry of Communications was grandly opened. Hundreds of domestic and foreign media gathered together.

This bid is extraordinary, known as the "million-kilometer road" big bid!

That's right, according to the plan of the Bulgarian government, the total mileage of roads in Bulgaria will exceed 1 million square kilometers within ten years, of which 50,000 kilometers are highways, 150,000 kilometers are secondary roads, and the rest are rural roads. .

At present, the total mileage of highways in Bulgaria is only more than 300,000 kilometers, and most of these roads are dirt roads, and the highway is only more than 10,000 kilometers, which requires extensive renovation.

This means that in the future, Bulgaria will start to explode highways at an annual rate of 70,000 kilometers. Once this plan is completed, the total number of highway mileage owned by Bulgaria will exceed the current European largest in ten years.

The media from all over the world have put their attention here, and they are all waiting to see the result of this bidding. If it is successful, it is estimated that it will have an intuitive impact on the transportation policies of various countries in the future.

After all, highways are no better than railways. Except for special sections, most areas do not require much construction technology. Even the current highways do not have the high standards of later generations, and the construction is not difficult.

If the government can use the wealth of capitalists to improve the national road system without investing a single penny, but only provide land and policies, it is estimated that governments of all countries will be happy to follow suit!

Due to the importance attached to this bidding meeting, the Minister of Transport Beshir Ivanov personally presided over the meeting. The threshold for this bidding meeting is very high. First, a bid bond of 2 billion levs must be paid. It eliminated the vast majority of incompetent investors.

If you don’t really want to win the bid, it is estimated that no one will joke about 2 billion levs, although it will be refunded after the bid is over, and the cost of this capital is also very high.

Of course, banks are very dominant in this regard. For example, Royal Bank and Union Bank, just write a cheque directly, and the Ministry of Communications does not need to accept cash!

Foreign consortiums are very hurt, and they must transfer funds. Such a large amount of money must be exchanged internationally first. This time cost alone is unacceptable.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer Kennedy brought a piece of bad news: "Beshear is not doing well. The three British consortiums and two French consortiums that had signed up in advance announced their withdrawal from this bidding, and now there are only two bidding companies left!"

Transport Minister Beshir Ivanov said in disbelief: "What? Why did they suddenly withdraw? Do they not want the bid bond?"

Kennedy said with a livid face: "So far, our Ministry of Finance has not received the deposit from them. When they signed up, they asked for an extension to pay the deposit on the grounds of international exchange. Considering their strength, we agreed.

We learned from the bank that these consortiums had indeed conducted exchange business with them, but suddenly cancelled the bidding plan yesterday! "

Beshear's face suddenly gloomy, as long as the two companies participate in the bidding, this bidding activity will undoubtedly make the Bulgarian government lose face.

...

On the other hand, Dougal Transportation Company is very fortunate. It is true that they are a temporary bidding company formed by the British Rothschild Consortium.

Three days ago, they completed a comprehensive survey of the planned route of the Bulgarian highway, which is not a survey, but sent people to evaluate the terrain, construction difficulty, and estimated the construction cost.

Then combined with the domestic economic development situation in Bulgaria, a comprehensive evaluation was carried out, and finally everyone came to a conclusion that this is a huge pit!

The information released by the Bulgarian government is not a lie, it just ignores a lot of things.

For example: Asia Minor Peninsula, Syria, Iraq and other regions, many areas are now no man's land, all material procurement, transportation needs to cost a lot, and this alone will increase the cost of billions of levs.

In addition, some areas with harsh geological conditions and harsh climatic conditions have been ignored by the government when evaluating. The roads in these areas are definitely not suitable for ordinary construction methods, and special treatment is required. It is still unknown how much cost these problems will increase.

In the end, the construction cost given by Dougal's experts was not more than 60 billion levas estimated by the Bulgarian government, but became a huge sum of nearly 100 billion levs.

As for the evaluation of the Bulgarian economic exhibition, the data obtained by everyone is similar, the same income data, different cost forecasts, and the final conclusion is naturally different!

After a comprehensive evaluation, Ferdinand's consortium finally believes that the cost can be recovered within 50 years at the latest. The most optimistic estimate is that the cost can be recovered in 35 years. In addition to the benefits in other fields, this business can be done. .

The Rothschild consortium came to the conclusion that it was a huge loss, increasing the cost of construction by two-thirds, and the cost of capital interest alone could not be recovered. Once it fell into it, it would never get up again!

Several other consortiums have also come to similar conclusions. It is estimated that they are watching jokes to see which fool will jump into the pit!

As a local snake, no one knows the road planning situation in Bulgaria better than Ferdinand. The main cost of road construction is labor, gravel, and cement. In some areas, bridges and steel are needed. Earthwork can be ignored, and the Bulgarian government will designate the soil yard free of charge.

If it is an outsider, of course, the raw materials can only be purchased at the market price. As a monopoly consortium, these raw materials and machinery and equipment are produced by themselves, and it is nothing more than a left-handed and right-handed problem.

If you lose money on highway projects and make money on other projects, you can also take this list of losses to the public to see the miserable sales, and increase the oil price reasonably and legally.

Even in terms of labor, there are very obvious advantages. The big deal is to cooperate with the military and let them be responsible for some cheap labor. Don't doubt their influence. You don't need Ferdinand to end, and the people below can easily handle it.

These advantages are factored in, and the added cost is offset. Based on the advantages of local banks alone, the cost of international exchange is one or two points lower than that of foreign capital, which is 1 or 2 billion levs.

In the future gas station project, as long as the bank interest can be paid, Ferdinand is already making money, and ordinary people don't know that this project has achieved profitability!

...

No matter how many people participate in the bidding, it has come to this stage anyway. Even if there is only one bidding unit, the bid must be opened, and the credibility of the government cannot be lost in any case!

Considering the large number of media, the bidding site was placed in the Congress Hall. Although there were fewer bidding companies, there were a lot of people present.

The two bidders brought a large group of people in a tacit understanding. The major media were frantically taking pictures, and some people wanted to go to the interview, but they were stopped by the security personnel.

Transport Minister Behir Ivanov stepped onto the rostrum and said directly: "This time, there are seven applicants for the Bulgarian road construction bidding, only two submitted bid bonds, and the other five chose to give up.

Now that they have given up, we will leave them alone. The two companies participating in the bidding are: Bulgaria Road Group Corporation and Bulgaria Road Construction Group Corporation.

This project includes 700,000 kilometers of new roads and 300,000 kilometers of road maintenance and renovation projects. The detailed list has been given to the two representatives, and the Bulgarian government has also made a public announcement. It is believed that the two bidding companies have conducted detailed studies. .

Now that the bidding meeting has started, since there are less than three bidding companies, according to the Bulgarian bidding law, the bidding will be changed to a commercial negotiation mode bidding, but the requirements announced by the government will not change.

Can the representatives of the two companies have any objections? "

"No!"

"No!"

Beshear was already relieved, there is no best, what he is most afraid of is that now these two companies have also withdrawn, then the Bulgarian government's bidding activity has failed!

"Well, it is now entering the formal bidding stage. After in-depth on-the-spot investigation by experts organized by the Bulgarian government, the total mileage of this highway project construction is 1oo.34 million kilometers, and the total construction investment is 62.618 billion levs.

The details have been listed in the list. Do you have any suggestions? "

I saw Howell, the representative of Bulgaria Road Group, said: "My company believes that the list provided by the government is not accurate enough, and it is inconsistent with the results of our on-site survey. Here is the survey data we provided, please review it by the expert group!"

Without waiting for Beshear to speak, Smith, the representative of Bulgaria Highway Construction Group, also said: "Agreed, my company also has the same question. Here is the information of our engineer's on-site investigation, please consider it by the expert group!"

Behir-Ivanov knew that the trouble was big. Once the current bidding list was seriously inconsistent with the actual situation on the spot, the Bulgarian government needed to take full responsibility. Even if the two companies withdrew from the bid on this ground, it would still be reasonable and legal!

However, Beshear still did not change his face and said: "The proposal is valid, and the expert group will conduct on-site deliberation!"

Due to too much information, the expert group could only look at a rough idea, but at first everyone's face became gloomy. The total cost given by the two companies was far from the total cost announced by the government.

They don't think these data are fake, and they will know the results later by organizing on-the-spot investigations. Topography, landforms, and climatic conditions, these natural factors can't be faked!

After more than two hours passed, the expert group exchanged opinions, and the expert Lancelot said: "Because the data provided by the bidder and the bidder in this bid is too large, on-the-spot surveys are needed to be sure!

Now the total project cost given by the Bulgarian Road Group Corporation is 100 million levs; the total project cost given by the Bulgarian Road Construction Group is 100 million levs; the project cost given by the Ministry of Communications is 62.618 billion levs.

The cost budget gap between the two parties is too large, and it is necessary to re-assess the project cost after on-site survey. However, this bidding is different from the past, the bidder needs to bear the full investment and realize the return on investment in the mode of gas station.

The results of this calculation will not affect the final bidding results. The two bidders can still continue to bid, or they can choose to give up. If it is finally determined that the data you provided is true and valid, you can file an administrative claim with the Ministry of Communications! "

Obviously, this is what Ferdinand learned from later generations, and he deliberately increased the cost. For a project where the bidder fully funded and is responsible for its own profits and losses, the requirements for the investment amount are not too strict.

The advantage is that on the surface, the cost can not be recovered for a long time in the future, and the loss-making project will naturally not cause people's jealousy.

If the profits are soon realized, and the profits are still huge, then the investors who undertake the construction will soon become the target of public criticism, especially these projects that involve the national economy and people's livelihood.

In order to avoid these unnecessary troubles, Ferdinand planned to make an astronomical investment from the very beginning, and it was very simple to control this.

For example: rising labor costs, rising material costs, rising capital interest costs, rising transportation costs, and poor geological conditions increase costs...

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