Chapter 1517 - The Future of Heavenly Palace City (1/2)

On the second day of the Space Colonization Summit, fireworks were set off over the Mars colony.

It was a special kind of firework, not made out of gunpowder, but created through the pride of Future Group, its holographic projection technology.

Now that Future Group had mastered holographic technology’s applications, it was possible to produce holographic image generating units into a string of spheres the size of glass beads. Then the beads were propelled into the air with electromagnetic artillery and the splendors of fireworks were projected in sequence.

The Mars colony had rehearsed countless times for this day.

No.

To be precise, it was called Heavenly Palace City now.

Just yesterday, the National Assembly of Xin formally approved the Mars colony application, and it became the fourth municipality in Xin after Lunar City. As the former governor of the Mars colony, Hong Zewei was also honored to become the mayor of Heavenly Palace City.

Like other municipalities, Heavenly Palace City abided by the constitution of Xin, and the mayor was directly appointed by Celestial Trade. Citizen approval rate and municipal performance indicators were used as the evaluation criteria for the mayor’s performance, and this also meant that Heavenly Palace City could no longer operate as a “bottomless pit”. Hong Zewei’s biggest challenge over the next four years was how to turn the city from loss to profit.

Fortunately, Celestial Trade Marine Corps’ military expenditures and costs for eliminating Devil Worms were not part of the cost associated with the municipality. Otherwise, the city would go bankrupt within two years.

“This is an opportunity, but also a challenge.”

“Future Bank will provide us with a low-interest loan of 50 billion Xin New dollars. Although it is not required of us to turn losses into profit immediately, our budget will no longer be unlimited from now on, and our decision-making will also experience the test of an open market.”

“I want to hear your opinions.”

In the conference hall of Heavenly Palace City, Hong Zewei convened the leadership team. Most of these people were the first colonists to arrive on Mars. Their professional fields covered all aspects and they possessed a wealth of production and management experience in the colony.

The first to speak was Lugani, director of the Heavenly Palace City Population Bureau, an Italian from Rome who used to be an architectural engineer. The colony’s oxygen and electricity transmission and distribution systems were his masterpieces.

“Next month, 2,000 immigrants will be arriving in Heavenly Palace City, and now we have only 620 living spaces left. It is not just the problem of living space, but also the supply of water, electricity, oxygen, space suits, and other wearable equipment. These must be prioritized and solved as soon as possible.”

“Is there any good solution?” Hong Zewei asked.

Hong Zewei considered this issue before the meeting began.

The cities on Mars and the cities on Earth were completely two extremes. On Mars, land was not expensive, but the house was. And the problem was not only limited to housing, but also food, air, freshwater, and electricity. These were all issues that must be carefully considered.

Before the city could intake these immigrants, the first task of Heavenly Palace City was to solve the settlement problem of these immigrants.

If the city had to expand its living units to accommodate more immigrants, it would require a project of 2 billion New Xin dollars. It was not that the city could not finance this project, but rather, all spending had to be carefully considered, since many areas required money, and every dollar had to be spent at the right place.

“Of course,” Lugani nodded, “In fact, the message from above is very clear, including the low-interest loans of 50 billion Xin New dollars. The Space Department hopes that we can solve the budget problem through the market, instead of blindly manufacturing and completing the task before, then ask for money once we reach the target.”

“The problem is still money. Should immigrants pay out of their pockets?” Director of the Finance Bureau Dimit shook his head, “I guess no one can afford it.”