"Oh?" Mayor Liu beca interested, "Where? Can we have a look?"
Secretary General Hao smiled and nodded.
"Let’s take a look."
"This way." Fang Huai pointed towards the backyard and led the way.
Mayor Liu was very fond of table tennis, a signal that Leader Hao had relayed to Fang Huai.
Fang Huai imdiately had soone drive a pickup truck to the Detachnt to bring back a table and set it up in the backyard.
The backyard was spacious, suitable for conversation, and it was also a place where the leaders could spend more ti to see where the governnt-allocated funds had gone.
What t their eyes was a backyard that had expanded by more than three or four tis compared to a few months ago; it seed that one had truly entered the Second Squadron upon reaching this area.
Building Two was having its floors cast, and the courtyard walls, 150 ters apart to the left and right, were also being erected.
"It’s really huge!" Leader Hao couldn’t help but admire.
Fang Huai nodded, speaking like a professional tour guide:
"Yes, this is the largest Fire Brigade in the province, and it ranks highly nationwide.
Our Squadron’s renovation has now entered the high-speed construction phase. The capping work will be completed by mid-month, and by New Year’s Day, the main building will begin to be decorated.
Our plan is to have the whole place operational by May. With strong support from both the city and provincial governnt, we’re under a lot of pressure.
After New Year’s Day, our Squadron will undergo a comprehensive personnel adjustnt and begin training for multiple types of disasters, striving to be ready for provincial-wide disaster relief operations imdiately upon completion."
"Hmm, not bad," Mayor Liu stopped and nodded, "I’ve heard from Leader Hao that your Detachnt is preparing a representative disaster relief coordination plan. I asked around, and for your cause, Deputy Mayor Zhang has already taken the lead in a joint eting. We have always been very supportive of the firefighting work. What difficulties are there?"
As the mayor of the provincial capital, Mayor Liu’s level wasn’t too different from that of Leader Hao, and he didn’t always look for Leader Hao’s reactions when speaking.
By inviting him over, Leader Hao had sincerely made an effort.
And it was precisely because of this effort by Leader Hao that Mayor Liu asked Fang Huai directly about the difficulties.
Upon hearing this, Fang Huai spoke from the heart.
"Mayor, it can’t be considered just a plan, but a system – a comprehensive ergency response coordination system. Our idea isn’t ant for a single event or type of disaster; it’s a long-term collaborative chanism. From the perspective of the firefighting system, it’s a pilot at the city level.
The last ti was just preliminary work. To avoid delaying the construction of the information system, we started so long-term data collection work first.
To really implent the mobilization system and ensure the effectiveness of the information construction, to be able to deploy resources and take action effectively in critical tis, we will likely need substantial governnt support. It will be necessary to assign managent commissioners to ergency-related departnts, and at least a deputy leader in charge should coordinate disaster relief efforts.
Moreover, for final implentation, it’s necessary for the city governnt to join with the provincial governnt to promote legislative reform targeted at the comprehensive ergency plan, naly the firefighting regulations. A long-term chanism needs to be integrated into the local laws."
"Hmm..." Mayor Liu fell into deep thought, and he hesitated.
Allocating responsibilities across various departnts and bureaus, in addition to anding laws, even if only at the local level, was a significant matter.
At this mont, Leader Hao tily interjected:
"By the way, Little Fang, you said that you have found experts for the legislative reform?"
"Yes, Leader Hao. His na is Cao Gang, the person in charge of legislative reform in Liaoning, a senior expert in the field. It wasn’t easy to consult him, and he even posed conditions, wanting to refer to our plan."
The two had an understanding in their interaction, highlighting the superiority of the plan.
Liaoning also wanted to refer to it.
Listening, Mayor Liu felt his internal scales tip slightly.
It wasn’t just about Liaoning wanting to consult, but he could sense that Leader Hao, who was in charge of firefighting, had already reviewed the details thoroughly. If Leader Hao agreed, the proposal would gain much traction.
However, it had been just one minute since Fang Huai started speaking, and naturally, Mayor Liu wasn’t ready to make a quick decision. Such matters, at the very least, needed to be decided by the mayor’s council, and if the evaluation of the specific responsibilities of various departnts and bureaus was too extensive, it might even require the Standing Committee’s approval.
"Bring the specifics later. I’ll help you look it over. Leader Hao, shall we head over there?"
Mayor Liu pointed to the lively table tennis table not far away.
It was also a common practice among leaders, to deflect attention from an uncertain matter montarily by changing the subject.
"Sure, let’s go."
Leader Hao raised his hand, and the three of them walked towards the table tennis table.
"Hit!"
"Hey!"
"Co on!"
As Fang Huai approached, he almost laughed.
These brothers were really exerting themselves.
Playing table tennis with shouts and grunts, soone by the side even started to cheer them on.
The trio spoke loudly, but the others pretended not to see the leaders, not even glancing their way, displaying extre "concentration."
Their inexperience showed; the performance was a bit overdone, causing the leaders to almost laugh.
The script obviously hadn’t been too ticulously rehearsed.
"Ahem!"
As Fang Huai approached within two or three ters of the table, seeing that the n hadn’t noticed, he cleared his throat as a signal.
"Yo!" Zhang Tianwang exaggeratedly shouted.
The group’s movents finally ceased, and they stood at attention.
"Greetings, Commander!"
Fang Huai wanted to cover his face.
There they go blowing their cover again. The word ’commander’ isn’t written on my face, so how did you all suddenly know to call that?
You were supposed to call out to first!
I originally wanted to create a scene where the Second Squadron is fond of playing table tennis; I even specifically chose a few with good push technique so Mayor Liu would visit us more often, but now it all fell apart.
However, the two leaders were obviously used to such scenes and didn’t bring it up, and today wasn’t the occasion for formalities, they just couldn’t be bothered.
Mayor Liu was very direct, "Comrade, please bear with us and let us play a couple of rounds, shall we?"
"Yes!"
The group quickly passed over the paddles and balls.
Mayor Liu picked up a paddle and modestly said, "Should I join Leader Hao for a ga, or should Little Fang go first?"
Leader Hao raised his paddle with a smile, "I’ll play with you. When was the last ti we faced off, four or five years ago?"
"Yes, it’s been four years."
"Let’s see if your skills are still as exquisite as they were back then."
"No way! I haven’t played in a while!"
As they spoke, the two approached the table, and Mayor Liu signaled with a gesture, serving a straight ball.
"Smack."
"Tap!"
The mont they started playing, the ball went back and forth, with forehand and backhand, close and far shots continuously exchanged, their level of awesoness far exceeded Fang Huai’s expectations.
Tsk tsk.
It is said that leaders born in the fifty and sixty decades are nurous in Russian language and table tennis experts, and today he witnessed this firsthand.
We won’t ntion Russian language because of the era.
But as for their pushing skills in table tennis, probably nobody in the Squadron could play this well.
While playing, they even managed to hold a conversation.
"Little Fang, your insights on the Four Trillion Yuan plan’s ten asures are quite advanced and accurate... You said you had more ideas, care to share?"
Upon hearing Leader Hao speak up, Fang Huai quickly asked the few who were ready to cheer to head back first.
Just hearing this remark made his comrades’ hearts stall.
This high official coming to him for a chat about this topic?!
But catching Fang Huai’s glance, they quickly scattered like birds.
Only then did Fang Huai turn around, organized his thoughts, and said:
"Uh... Leader, the upper echelons have a lofty and farsighted perspective that I can’t match. However, I’ve also carefully reviewed the Four Trillion Yuan plan’s content. Although the Central Finance has allocated funds giving the local governnt more opportunities for developnt, the local governnt must also bear the matching 70% investnt funds, which, honestly for the locals, presents a very dangerous problem with their debt ratio."
Smack.
Just that sentence hit Mayor Liu’s sore spot, and his shot went awry.
Fang Huai imdiately ran to pick up the ball and handed it to Leader Hao.
Leader Hao laughed, "I told you, this kid has an eye for problems."
Mayor Liu also straightened his expression.
"Indeed, you’re right on this point; the money is hot to the touch, and if not spent wisely could cause significant issues."
"Little Fang, share with us your perspective." Leader Hao sent the next serve flying.
Fang Huai was straightforward, "Choosing the right direction for investnt is critical. With Guizhou’s situation, the best choice from the plan’s ten proposed investnt directions to maximize returns from limited investnt is clearly the third option, building roads; after that, it’s the first and tenth options."
He didn’t specify what the first and tenth items were, which implicitly was a test.
What’s the point of just answering what you ask? Can you rember the policies?
As expected, this omission made Mayor Liu suddenly grab the flying ball, and both leaders stood still, recalling.
"The first item... Affordable Housing Projects?" said Mayor Liu slowly.
Fang Huai nodded, turning his gaze toward Leader Hao.
Leader Hao, what’s the tenth, your turn to answer.
Leader Hao, however, laughed it off.
"You little rascal, I’m getting old and can’t rember; you tell us!"
Fang Huai said sowhat helplessly:
"The tenth is to increase financial support for economic growth, the first is to accelerate the construction of affordable housing projects, combining the two, it’s actually just five words:
’Slum Area Renovation.’"
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