Bulgarian Empire

Chapter 68: Commissioning of New Zones

Ferdinand said slowly: "I intend to let the government to introduce special measures to encourage domestic industries to come together to form a huge industrial park, and then drive a new round of national economic development!"

Konstantin asked doubtfully, "Your Highness, it would be the same as building an artificial city! But does it really work? The total number of industries scattered all over the country does not change from the one that would be gathered together. Moreover, the cost of many of them will increase when it comes to the transportation of raw materials?"

Ferdinand said patiently, "It's just on the surface, when a large population will come together, it will certainly promote the development of the food and leisure industry and increase the number of jobs!"

"There is also the biggest benefit of gathering together in the same industry, which is useful for pushing forward the technological innovation of business!"

...

Ferdinand took great pains to finally and narrowly convince Konstantin. Well, now he still does not see the development zone, only agreed to common sense for a while, not even letting the government's interest in investment.

Ferdinand thought about it and did not say anything. If the government does not invest, he can invest himself.

Anyway, how to look at it is also a good deal. The real estate development alone is fat enough. You don't see so many people in business waving their money in the latter days and rushing to the development zone.

It is not a difficult task for him to run a city. His family's town in the Hungarian fiefdom is very well run.

Ferdinand is eased down, but Konstantin is worried. Although his mouth says to try, he hopes that the development zone can succeed more than anyone else.

As the next prime minister, Konstantin is the one who asks questions about the economic crisis. As an international student, he has not heard much about the horror of the financial crisis. It is easy to bring down a cabinet, not to say destroy a country.

After taking out a map of Bulgaria and calling a meeting with government officials to discuss it, they finally chose the outskirts of Sliven after several rounds of discussions.

Sliven is an industrial city in eastern Bulgaria, the capital of the Sliven Region. It is located at the southern foothills of the Balkan Mountains. It has been a strategic location since ancient times.

The city was founded in 1153. It is one of the textile centers of Bulgaria, and the first factory of tweed-making in the country was established in 1834.

Woolen, silk, textile, machinery, machine tool manufacturing, food, wood processing glass, and ceramic industries are one kind. There is a library and a museum.

In terms of security, it is already hundreds of kilometers from the border line and can rely on the Balkan Mountains for defense; in terms of transportation, the railroad is already connected, and the port of Burgas is not far away, making it easy to transport.

By all accounts, Sliven was good. Ferdinand was also satisfied that Sliven was still famous for the rose oil produced in the outskirts in later times.

Another reason he cannot say is that Ferdinand wants the industry to move away from Sofia. During the years of rapid economic development in Bulgaria, Sofia, as the capital, developed even more rapidly.

It also leads inevitably to environmental pollution, and now the air quality in Sofia has declined markedly.

At this time, it is unlikely that environmental protection laws will be introduced. Ferdinand can most restrict the birth of new factories in Sofia in terms of approval, but there is nothing he can do about the existing factories.

Now the opportunity has come to send them packing, Ferdinand still has a few more years to spare. The future Sofia can be the political center of Bulgaria. It can be the cultural or economic center, but not the industrial center.

The Bulgarian government has created a new development zone that is not very big at the administrative level. It has not yet come to fruition and is only a municipal unit directly under the central government.

As soon as they introduced the benefits, the official media, of course, came out singing their praises in a very reckless manner. Well, the opposition media, sadly, are not the mainstream.

The Bulgarian Press Law stipulates that the financial transparency of news media companies and the content of ads, for which the newspaper is held liable jointly and severally.

Several newspapers have paid the price for this in blood, with the owner and editor of the newspaper closing down and going to jail. So now, newspapers are not interested in ads. All rely on reader subscriptions to live.

Sadly, the Bulgarian market was so small that many newspapers closed. By the end of 1891, less than ten newspapers in the country combined, less than a third of what they were in their prime.

The public opinion in Bulgaria has become so unified that it is almost impossible for confused ideas to spread through newspapers.

The Socialist Workers Party, on which Ferdinand gave orders to the intelligence services to provide significant weight, is not even in its infancy.

The main reason, of course, was that in just three years, from 1888 to 1891, the average wage of Bulgarian workers had increased by twenty percent.

There is also the introduction of labor law, the presence of overtime pay, and now everyone is busy making money. They are not interested in social movements and can't fool people, so naturally, there is no ground for political parties to survive.

The brutal struggle between the Liberals and Conservatives disgusted the Bulgarian public.

Under Ferdinand's guidance, there is now a wave of anti-party thinking in Bulgaria, of which the new generation of students is the main force.

They established the first development zone in Bulgaria quietly and silently in a calm environment. The first mayor of the development zone, the former mayor of Sliven, was appointed to the post, and officials at all levels remained unchanged from the original local officials.

The new Sliven Development Zone, carved out of the City of Sliven, seems to be back in the same system.

From the above, it is enough to see how unpopular the newly established development zone is in the government. Apart from a change of name and some more special incentives, there are almost no changes in personnel.

It can't help that now, except for Ferdinand, the entire Bulgarian government, the expectations of the new development zone are not much. Everyone is trying to suppress the impact so as not to fail to end badly.

Looking at the report sent by Konstantin, Ferdinand thought about it and approved it. In the spirit of saving as much as possible, the government has saved another administration expense.

Anyway, the infrastructure construction projects of the whole development zone have now been commissioned by the new zone development company, which Franz has just formed.

According to the agreement, the government of Sliven Development Zone has given the whole area of ten square kilometers of land to the new development company for a friendly price of 100,000 Leva.

Including the pre-investment and construction, the municipal service management, and the later investment attraction, all are the tasks of the new area development company.

Not only that, based on the agreement. The new district development public also has to ensure that the new district in five years, the total size of the enterprise assets exceeded 100 million Leva, the population exceeded 50,000, to be considered successful.

In case of failure, the development company will have to pay three million Leva for breach of contract. The new district government will have the right to acquire the properties in the development area at a discount.

It's like an empty glove. The government passes all the risks to the development company. If it succeeds, the government can continue to expand the area of the new district and develop it in all directions; if it fails, the development company will pay for it anyway, and there will be liquidated damages.

Fortunately, the development company is Ferdinand's. Otherwise, it is estimated that no one dares to sign this contract. Although the profit's success is enormous, once the change of which link pulls back, It is the empty basket of money.

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