Although over the years, the largest industrial cluster in Oyo State has been built and developed along the shores of Lake Conero over the years, the Bosso-Katero Steel Industrial Complex not only has a total investment scale of US$1.2 billion in the first phase, but also has a significant impact on Katero.
The hinterland of Oyo State to the east of Luo plays a great role in promoting economic development. It is an industrial dream that Oyo State and even the entire Kanem country have been unable to realize for 40 years.
Therefore, the ground-breaking ceremony jointly organized by West Sea Steel and Lekki Mining has attracted great attention from the whole country in Kanem. President Buhari and other political figures will also rush to Catero from the capital to attend the ground-breaking ceremony and meet with Han Shaorong.
Yu Jinjie and others met to discuss deeper cooperation in more fields.
Even in Oyo State, powerful chief families such as the Blake, Felician, and Sika families look down upon this project, but the completion of the Bosso-Katero Steel Industrial Complex will make Oyo State
Interest groups in the east have benefited a lot, and therefore can also gain widespread support within the Oyo State government and state assembly.
In order to participate in the groundbreaking ceremony and to prevent any setbacks on the road, Han Shaorong and Yu Jinjie arrived at Catero one day in advance; Chinese officials from the embassy, the Consulate General in Draculamo and representatives of Chinese businessmen also checked into Catero one day in advance.
in the hotel.
"Mr. Han, Mr. Yu must have had a hard time on this trip. Mr. Chen and I are really busy here. Otherwise, we would have to rush back to Draculamore to pick you up at the airport!"
Liang Yuan and Chen Ruhao, as the chairman and president of Xihai Steel, and also the Chinese person in charge of this groundbreaking ceremony, need to stay in Catero to take care of all aspects. There is really no way to spare the time to rush back to Draculamore to Han Shaorong and Yu Jinjie.
Pick up.
In addition to preparing for the groundbreaking ceremony, such a huge project must be launched before June, and all aspects of the connection have been rushed. Construction will start after the groundbreaking ceremony, and a lot of problems exposed need to be coordinated and resolved.
This time, China Railway Construction, as the contractor of the Bosso-Catro Railway, has taken less than two months from the time it officially decided to participate in the bidding to the time the project team entered the site.
The construction plan for the entire industrial complex, including the Bosso-Catro freight railway, was drafted before the 1970s, and by then 40 years had passed.
The original plan has not only made great progress in various technical fields, but has even undergone fundamental changes in concept. The topography of Bosso and Catero has also undergone great changes, and the original plan can no longer be fully applied for construction.
construction.
However, in order to obtain new construction permits as soon as possible, Liang Yuan and Ryan Fortis had previously brought out the same plan from forty years ago and pushed it to be approved by the Oyo State Assembly and the state government——
This is directly related to the fact that they, including Lekki Mining, lack the necessary professional and technical personnel to make preliminary preparations.
In order to save time, a series of subsequent bidding and bidding work were also carried out on the basis of the original plan. How could there be no mistakes?
Tianyue previously carried out industrial layout along the Gulf of Guinea. The reason why it was so fast was mainly due to the preliminary preparation work. On the one hand, the connection meeting was carried out non-stop. On the other hand, Cao Mo personally followed up, and the preparatory work was done very well.
full.
These are far beyond what Liang Yuan, Ryan Fortis and other people without much industrial genes can make up for with a little more effort.
The project team of China Railway Construction officially entered the site half a month ago. After on-site inspection, they found that there were a lot of adjustments in the original plan, so they were naturally in a hurry.
Fortunately, China has always had a tradition of reviewing and approving, designing and constructing at the same time, so it is highly flexible. The plan for the Bosso-Catro railway has a lot of flaws, but China Railway Construction has no intention of picking one thing after another.
However, in the past few days, the China Railway Construction project team has dragged Liang Yuan, Chen Ruhao, Ryan Fortis and representatives from Lekki Mining to sign a supplementary agreement to ensure that the final project payment will be settled according to the actual adjustments that have occurred
.
You can do dirty and tiring work, but you can't make less money.
The team of New Steel Alliance has always been responsible for the renovation, expansion and operation of the first phase of the Catero Steel Plant. They planned and designed the second phase of the project very early.
I thought about the plan and started researching it. Working and living in Africa was really boring, and I had plenty of time to think about work matters.
The general contractor of the second phase project of Catero Steel Plant has also cooperated with New Steel United for many years. The two parties have a close relationship and smooth communication. Both parties have discussed the technical issues clearly before bidding, and the two parties basically reached cooperation with a completely new plan.
With the agreement, naturally no big problems can arise.
The biggest problem still lies in the reconstruction and expansion of the Bosuo Iron Mine and the construction of the second mineral processing plant.
According to the cooperation agreement between Xihai Steel and Lakki Mining to jointly build the Boka Railway through cross-shareholding, in addition to Lakki Mining's 30% stake in Catero Steel, Xihai Steel will also invest US$300 million to hold the Bosso Iron Mine.
30% equity.
The general contractor of the Bosso Iron Mine is a European and American engineering company selected under the leadership of the Evans Foundation.
Regardless of whether it is rigorous or fussy, after the engineering company rushed to the scene in a hurry, it found that the actual situation was a bit different from the materials provided before, so it requested that all the previous work be overturned and done again.
And this "re" not only makes necessary adjustments to the original planning and design plan of the project, but also proposes a new environmental, ecological and safety assessment.
As a result, the Oyo State Assembly and relevant departments of the state government will conduct a new review. It will take half a year to complete this set of procedures.
One of the tasks that Liang Yuan and Chen Ruhao are really busy with these days is to cooperate with representatives from Ryan Fortis and Laiki Mining to appease the engineering contractor.
The plan can be adjusted, but the procedure cannot be repeated.
In any case, the date for the groundbreaking ceremony has been set, and President Buhari, the supreme leader of Kanem, has been invited to attend, which is extremely rare. The groundbreaking cannot be stopped.
Of course, Liang Yuan and Chen Ruhao had thought about directly looking for China National Mining Corporation or a domestic mine construction company to replace the European and American engineering company, but Leki Mining firmly disagreed.
Damn, who wouldn’t want to feed such a big piece of fat to their family members? It seems that they can’t get any kickbacks.
After Liang Yuan and Chen Ruhao met Han Shaorong and Yu Jinjie, they immediately explained these relevant situations clearly.
"It was hard to convince those stubborn people to accept our solution. The Bosuo Iron Mine will break ground first, and we won't do anything else. The subsequent construction can be slowed down a little until the plan is adjusted. However, the reconstruction and expansion of the iron mine
, there is a strong dependence on the early completion of the Baka Highway. Even if construction starts in the early stage, the speed will not be too fast. It will still have to wait until the Baka Highway is completed in the later period and all large-scale engineering equipment can be put into use on site, so that the construction speed will be accelerated.
Get up. Because, on the whole, there are some problems in the Bosuo Iron Mine now, and they will not be held back. There is nothing to worry about!" Liang Yuan did not want Han Shaorong and Yu Jinjie to have any doubts about the Evans Foundation at this time.
He said confidently.
Han Shaorong and Yu Jinjie have long been accustomed to the flexible pace of project construction in China, and they don't think the problem is serious.
They also know very well that in order to promote the early progress, they will use the plan from forty years ago to invite bids. It is impossible to expect the contractor to bear all the additional investment caused by the adjustment of the plan without saying a word.
It was already noon when Han Shaorong and Yu Jinjie arrived at the hotel. When they got to the room, they just took a breather while their luggage and other things were packed by the accompanying staff.
After they had a preliminary understanding of the latest situation, they rushed to the restaurant, accompanied by Liang Yuan and Chen Ruhao, to dine with the Chinese officials who had checked into the hotel today.
Chinese officials, including a bureau-level deputy general manager from China Railway Construction, three ambassadors to West African countries, Consul General Draculamo, representatives of China Civil Engineering Construction and China Mining in Africa, etc., have all checked into the hotel.
After lunch, a Gulf of Guinea Industrial Economic Development Forum will be held in the conference room on the first floor in the afternoon.
The forum invited officials from the Kanem Ministry of Industry and Economy who arrived in Catero in advance, as well as some officials from the Oyo State government. Some business representatives from China and Qatar also participated, which served as a warm spot for tomorrow's groundbreaking ceremony.
It was a pleasant meal at noon. Han Shaorong and the others did not take a break at noon. They accompanied officials from the Kanem Ministry of Industry and Economy and the Oyo State Government and chatted for a while in the VIP lounge.
Oh my god, it was time for the forum event before I knew it, and everyone took the elevator directly downstairs to rush to the forum event site.
But after they got out of the elevator, Han Shaorong and others saw Cao Mo and Zhang Chaoyang walking directly from the gate into the hotel lobby.
"..." Han Shaorong stopped hesitantly and looked towards Liang Yuan and Chen Ruhao in confusion, not understanding that Cao Mo was actually here at this time.
Cao Mo glanced at Han Shaorong and Yu Jinjie, without lingering on their faces for a moment. Instead, he walked directly towards Ji Mingdong, the deputy general manager of China Railway Construction, and Peng Wensheng, the ambassador to Bei, who walked out of the elevator with Han Yu and Han Yu, and said:
"I originally made an appointment to meet Mr. Ji and Ambassador Peng in Catero in the evening, but I received a call at the last minute and had to rush back to Cotonou before evening - I thought I would miss this meeting with Mr. Ji, but it turned out that
The staff told me that we had also received an invitation to the forum in the afternoon, so I shamelessly came over to be an uninvited guest!"
Liang Yuan also responded to Han Shaorong's questioning look with an innocent look.
In order not to give people the chance to find fault or criticize behind their backs, he did not leave Tianyue out when he invited representatives of Chinese businessmen and enterprises in Cardiff to participate in the forum activities and the groundbreaking ceremony, but he did not expect that anyone would actually be sent to attend.
Tianyue has not sent a receipt or responded through other means to this day.
Who the hell knew that Cao Mo came straight over?
Cao Mo walked up to Ji Mingdong, Peng Wensheng and others, waving the invitation letters they sent out in his hand. How could he "politely" ask Cao Mo to leave?
Of course Peng Wensheng and other officials stationed in Africa have long understood the grievances between Tianyue and Huamao, including the previous grievances between Tianyue and Taihua, and they all know the ins and outs.
They have always hoped that Chinese businessmen and enterprises in Africa would take into account the overall situation, but it was not convenient for them to directly intervene in these grievances.
Seeing Cao Mo appear at this time, Peng Wensheng and other officials stationed in Africa could only smooth things over with a smile, jokingly asking him to speak actively in the afternoon and offer advice and suggestions for the development of Chinese businessmen and enterprises in the Gulf of Guinea.
Cao Mo has indeed made an appointment with Peng Wensheng, the ambassador to Benin, to meet with Ji Mingdong, deputy general manager of China Railway Construction, to discuss important matters. He hopes that China Railway Construction can directly participate in the promotion of the Cotonou-Mamba Railway.
Come.
After the start of construction of a series of major industrial projects in Cotonou, the Benin authorities certainly have enough motivation to promote the construction of the Cotonou-Mamba railway, but the problem is that this railway connects Akwa and Benin.
Benin's industrial, mining and port towns are not something that can be pushed forward simply by being enthusiastic.
Although the Seviyi family and the Evans Foundation coveted the Usan River copper and gold mine, it has not been made public. On the surface, there is no conflict between Yibogu Mining and Tianyue Group and the Akwa authorities. The Usan River copper and gold mine is
The mine has been operating stably for a year and a half after its completion, but there are still many senior officials in the Akwa authorities who can see through the subtleties.
After entering the era of democratic elections, many political forces opposed to Sewiy in Akwa came to the forefront. The attempted coup of Ouf Bonya occurred, and Sewiy's reputation was further weakened. However, Sewiy is not only an Arab.
The current democratically elected president of Akwa still retains his power and authority after ruling Akwa for more than ten years.
Therefore, the Seviyi family remained silent, and only the moderate forces of the Kant ethnic group in Benin and Akwa, as well as local forces such as Drake, Mamba, and Kroono, promoted the construction of this railway, but their strength was still insufficient.
If this railway was simply built by China Railway Construction, it would be enough to discuss the details of cooperation with the African branch of China Railway Construction. However, Cao Mo hopes that China Railway Construction can also participate in jointly promoting the launch of the entire project. He even hopes that China Railway Construction will come forward to lobby.
This railway is included in the key tasks of China-Arab economic diplomacy, and it obviously requires contact with sufficiently high-level figures.
Of course, Cao Mo didn't really have anything to do and had to leave Catero before nightfall, so he had to rush to the forum to have a hasty meeting with Ji Mingdong.
In the afternoon forum, in addition to Yu Jinjie, Han Shaorong, Liang Yuan, Chen Ruhao, Ji Mingdong, Peng Wensheng and other Chinese officials in Africa, Ryan Fortis will also accompany Evans Foundation board member Feijem and other high-level officials to attend. Such a rare event
Given the opportunity, of course Cao Mo wanted to come over and observe up close how rich and exciting the inner dramas of these people were...