459: Chapter 459 Zhou Nan Meets a Rebate

Seeing how happy he looked, the various figures must be quite high.

Qin Chuan guessed that the various figures should be very high, but to know the exact numbers, he would have to look at the report.

"Mayor Zhou, you're in such high spirits. Tell me, what are our tourism figures for the National Day Golden Week?"

Zhou Nan was beaming. "Secretary, it's unbelievable! In just seven days of the National Day holiday, over 12 million people came to Dongjiang City for tourism. In those seven days, our tourism revenue broke through 20 billion, reaching 20.7 billion..."

Hearing the report, Qin Chuan was slightly surprised. He had guessed the figures would be high, but he hadn't expected them to be this high. Compared to last year's National Day, the growth was over 30%. No wonder Zhou Nan was so excited.

After happily giving his report, Zhou Nan said, "Secretary, you wouldn't believe it, but many people have been reflecting to me that Dongjiang City should build a modern airport. That way, it would be much more convenient for people to come to Dongjiang City for tourism."

Hearing this, Qin Chuan's eyes brightened slightly.

Pointing at the map on his large desk, he said with a chuckle, "Old Zhou, we're thinking along the same lines. I've also been considering the matter of building an airport."

"Really?!"

Zhou Nan was pleasantly surprised. When he was coming over just now, he had been wondering how to go about convincing Secretary Qin Chuan to build an airport.

He never expected that they would be thinking the same thing.

Secretary Qin Chuan said, "I've looked over the map. If we are to build an airport, it shouldn't be too far from the urban area; ideally, within a 20-kilometer radius."

Many cities build airports very far away, requiring an hour or more of driving to reach the airport to catch a flight; that is unnecessary.

The two sat in the office, drinking tea while discussing the airport construction for a long time, becoming more and more in sync the more they talked.

Two days later, at the Municipal Standing Committee meeting of Dongjiang City, Zhou Nan proposed the construction of the airport, and Qin Chuan expressed his approval.

This excited many of the Municipal Standing Committee members.

For a city, having an airport versus not having one is an entirely different concept.

Cities with airports have a much higher status.

During the era of Secretary Wu Qiaoxi, Dongjiang City's total economic output ranked fifth in the province.

Qin Chuan took office in July of last year, and by the end of the year, the total economic output had jumped to third in the province. By the end of this year, everyone's goal was to secure second place and fight for first.

The so-called "secure second and fight for first" meant that, at a minimum, they had to rank second, while giving their all to compete for the number one spot in the province.

Of course, the hope for first place was likely slim; the top spot for total economic output had always been held by the provincial capital.

With the mayor proposing the airport construction and the Municipal Party Secretary agreeing, the other Municipal Standing Committee members naturally gave their full support. This Standing Committee meeting had no suspense; it passed the investment in the airport construction with unanimous support, and they divided and arranged the preliminary work.

The most important tasks, besides site selection and fundraising, were the application and approval processes.

The construction of an airport mainly requires two levels of approval: approval from the province and approval from the relevant national ministries. Once these two levels of approval are obtained, the airport construction can begin.

After the Standing Committee meeting adjourned, Qin Chuan and Zhou Nan did not leave the meeting room immediately, but continued to discuss the airport construction.

Zhou Nan volunteered, "Secretary, let me be the one to run around for the airport construction approval first. If I can't get it done, then you can step in."

Qin Chuan said, "Fine, you go ahead and take the lead."

The provincial level of approval shouldn't be a big problem and should be granted soon. The key was the approval from the relevant national ministries; Qin Chuan was worried that Zhou Nan might not be able to handle it.

However, it didn't matter if he couldn't handle it; let him run around first. If he truly couldn't get it done, he could step in and finalize it himself.

On this point, Qin Chuan was quite confident.

After the meeting ended, building the airport became a key task for Dongjiang City, and the news spread instantly. It wasn't just within the system; many ordinary people in the streets were also heatedly discussing the matter.

"It's hard to imagine, but Dongjiang City is actually going to build an airport!"

"If Dongjiang City has its own airport, our status will be different—a rising tide lifts all boats!"

"I wonder where the airport will be located!"

"Once the airport is built, I must go there and take a flight!"

"..."

Some of the surrounding buzz reached Qin Chuan's ears. Whenever he heard these things, he would smile slightly, and his determination to build the airport would only strengthen.

Zhou Nan's efficiency was quite high. First, the airport site selection, then the airport's planning and design. By November, these tasks were basically complete, and the provincial-level approval passed smoothly. The number of times Zhou Nan traveled to the capital increased significantly.

Inside the office.

With the airport's planning and design blueprints spread out, Qin Chuan was once again looking at them with great interest. The planning and design of this airport were truly beautiful.

The airport was sited at Taohua Village in the eastern part of Dongjiang City, 11 kilometers from the urban area. It was relatively close, and transportation was very convenient.

If built, Taohua International Airport would be the second-largest civil airport in Jiangnan Province, a 4D trunk airport, with a scale second only to the provincial capital's international airport, and would also be the second international aviation port in Jiangnan Province.

Once completed, Taohua International Airport would have two terminals: Terminal 1 for domestic travel and Terminal 2 for international, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan flights. The airport would have two runways, each 3200 meters long, an apron area of 261,000 square meters, and 39 parking bays, including 12 jet bridge bays. It would be able to meet an annual passenger throughput of 10 million, a cargo and mail throughput of 50,000 tons, and 70,000 aircraft take-offs and landings.

Such a scale, while incomparable to the major international airports in the country, was still not small. It was much larger than those small airports and could be considered a full-fledged large airport.

After looking over the airport's planning and design drawings, Qin Chuan rolled up the blueprints, put them away, sat in his office chair, and took a sip of hot tea from his cup.

He thought to himself that with the site selection and planning/design complete, as long as the relevant national ministries finished their approval, construction on the airport could begin.

Thinking that after the airport was built, tourists from all over the country could fly there directly, and it would be convenient for him to return to the capital, he felt a slight thrill.

Of course, he was also very clear that an airport like this would require significant investment, and he needed to start considering how to raise the money.

Dongjiang City would contribute a portion, the province would support a bit, and he would go to the relevant ministries to ask for some more; it shouldn't be too much of a problem...

While he was thinking about raising funds, Secretary-General Tian Chaoqun knocked and entered, reporting, "Secretary, Mayor Zhou and his team are coming back this afternoon."

Two days ago, Zhou Nan had taken a few people to the capital, mainly to run the approval procedures for the airport construction with the relevant ministries. He didn't know how it had turned out.

Qin Chuan guessed that they had likely encountered resistance. If there had been good news, Zhou Nan would certainly have reported it to him immediately.

With no news for two days and them returning this afternoon, he estimated that this trip to the capital had been a failure.