Becoming a Russian Oligarch After Rebirth
Chapter 1036 - 917: Central Business District 2

Chapter 1036: Chapter 917: Central Business District 2

Sergei said with a smile.

However, Wang Ye shook his head and said,

"You don’t need to go to the Moscow City Government for this matter.

Because the National Economic Commission will propose a bill regarding the construction of the Moscow Central Business District.

At that time, a plot of land will be designated in the best location of the city center, specifically for the development of high-end office buildings.

A group of the most powerful companies in the country will be gathered, each to construct at least one skyscraper!

Once completed, this place will become the core business district of Moscow, on par with New York’s Manhattan, Xiangjiang’s Central, and Ginza, Tokyo!

The land price offered to each company will be very low, which can be considered a form of support from the government, after all, you have to invest a lot of money to build the buildings.

However, there will be relatively high requirements for the qualifications of the related companies, as well as for the design style and budget of the buildings.

With the strength and budget of Facebook Inc, there will surely be no problem."

This matter was, indeed, a new scheme Wang Ye had been brewing recently.

In fact, the issue of the Moscow CBD had been raised a long time ago, but it had been dragging without any progress.

There were various reasons, but in the end, it was still about money, and many big companies were unwilling to spend so much to construct buildings.

But the situation is different now, the national economy has been soaring at a visibly fast pace these two years, and with the economic policies formulated by Wang Ye beginning to take effect, many companies are very optimistic about the future prospects.

Moreover, there’s no need to say more when just a call to action from Wang Ye alone would lead many big companies to follow unconditionally.

Yukos Group, Russian Gas Industry Group, Xiao Ying Group, New Sun Group, Siberian Coal, Siberian Gold...

These companies either are controlled by Wang Ye, or have close ties with him, so of course, they would support Wang Ye’s policy.

And for these companies, spending a few hundred million US dollars to construct a building is not difficult at all.

Oh, and there’s also the two Communication Companies controlled by the Romanov Family, the banks under Khodorkovsky, and the Aluminum Industry Aviation Group under A Bu.

As long as each Group company undertakes the construction of one building, the Central Business District should be able to be built smoothly...

...

Sergei was overjoyed upon hearing this.

Because according to Wang Ye’s plan, the company would definitely be able to get a piece of land at a low price to construct the headquarters building, and what’s key is that the location is excellent!

After all, this was about setting up the entire core business district of Moscow, and the choice of location would inevitably be very cautious.

Moreover, this was a top-down project, which, in terms of efficiency and policy power, was very significant, far better than negotiating with the city government alone!

"Since there’s such an opportunity, let’s just pull together more money and do it in one go, build a building that will suffice for at least the next twenty years!

As for the budget...

Let’s set it at five hundred million US dollars, that should be enough."

Sergei, rubbing his chin and speaking excitedly, said.

Five hundred million US dollars, this is about constructing a landmark building!

At this time in 2005, although the cost of construction was higher in Europe, five hundred million US dollars for one building was still considered a very high budget, definitely enough to build a landmark skyscraper!

Although Wang Ye was not entirely clear about the actual construction cost for a skyscraper, he vaguely remembered that in his previous life when the Ping An Finance Center in Peng City was completed, which he also visited, renowned for its name.

That building was nearly six hundred meters tall, the tallest in Peng City, and a landmark.

Moreover, it was completed a decade later, and the construction cost was said to be less than ten billion CNY, which is about more than a billion US dollars.

Facebook Inc does not intend to build a super skyscraper; an estimate of two to three hundred meters would probably be the limit, and with a beautiful and distinctive facade, aesthetically pleasing architectural form, a budget of five hundred million US dollars would be more than sufficient!

Besides, Wang Ye did not expect Facebook Inc to construct the true landmark of the CBD, because the real tycoons were Yukos and the energy giants like Russian Gas Industry Group!

When it’s time, each energy giant could easily spend two to three billion, or even more, US dollars to construct a few truly monumental landmark buildings, which would symbolize the face of the CBD.

As for the question of whether the budget is too high, there’s no need to worry, because this money isn’t going to be disbursed all at once.

Those super skyscrapers typically take several years to construct, and the capital is also invested in stages.

For energy giants like Yukos and Russian Gas Industry, it’s incredibly easy to allocate a couple of billion US dollars each year.

It just means that there’ll be a little less money for the shareholders to divide at the end of the year...

......

Wang Ye nodded, smiling as he said,

"Since we’re aiming to develop a core business district, there naturally will be a high threshold.

We want to build a distinctive CBD, where each building has to have its highlight, with construction costs starting from at least a hundred million US dollars upwards, and no cap!

In the future, this will be the top business district in the whole of Eastern Europe, where all the major companies gather, possessing extraordinary business vitality and creating extremely high economic value and influence.

It won’t just have top-tier office buildings, but also five-star hotels, top luxury malls, and other supporting facilities."

Such central business districts may be seen by many as mere vanity projects, wasteful and of no practical use.

But Wang Ye didn’t think so.

If a country is wealthy enough, there’s no need to deliberately pursue these things, and letting them happen naturally is best.

But if a country is not yet affluent, or is in the process of striving to develop, then these things can indeed play a role.

For example, providing foreign enterprises with a better office environment encourages foreign companies to invest, as well as stirring up a sense of national pride among the citizens, and so on.

Anyway, some things are subtle; you may think they are of no great use, yet they have an invisible, intangible impact.

Moreover, once such a central business district is established, it could serve as a showcase to the outside world.

Let the whole world see that in these past few years, under the leadership of the Kremlin and the efforts of the Economic Committee, Russia’s economy has indeed achieved some results...

......

When Wang Ye presented this proposal at the National Economic Commission meeting, some committee members raised doubts, as expected.

"Director, why do we need to concentrate these buildings together?

I think like it is now, scattered across several major urban districts and streets isn’t bad either; it won’t cause traffic congestion.

If we really focus on constructing a business district, it will face a lot of difficulties.

The most daunting challenge would be demolition because the business district has to be located as close to the city center as possible. That inevitably means tearing down old buildings, as there is no large tract of vacant land in the center.

Another crucial issue is that constructing skyscrapers is very expensive!

Where are we going to find so much money? Surely, we won’t have to dip into the funds reserved for major infrastructure projects, as those funds are allocated for specific uses and can’t be touched..."

Clearly, this committee member who raised the doubts wasn’t being deliberately difficult; the concerns he raised were very pragmatic and real.

Wang Ye smiled faintly, knowing that he needed to provide answers to these questions.

Otherwise, it would be difficult to convince the committee members to support him.

After all, this wasn’t a small matter, and there might even be resistance within the Moscow City Government at some point, so it was necessary to gain unanimous approval and support within the Economic Commission now.

He gestured with his hand, instructing his assistant Nova to bring over a large map of the Moscow metropolitan area and hang it on a writing board that stood there.

Then he stood up, took a marker, and drew a circle on the map, saying,

"I’ve selected this location!

Facing the Kremlin across the river, most of the area is now woodland, along with a government unit’s family housing district, totaling about four square kilometers.

This area is not particularly large, and I plan to divide the development into two phases – the first phase will only cover about one square kilometer along the river, with the remaining area left for potential future development depending on the situation.

As for the enterprises that will move in and the financing, of course, I’ve considered those as well.

How about this, the day after tomorrow, I’ll invite representatives from some of the more capable enterprises over for a meeting to hear their opinions, shall we?"