Landlord in the Arctic

Chapter 326 - 260: Suggestion (Part 2)

But the confidence radiating from his very bones made it clear to everyone that the "small factory" the old man mentioned was anything but simple.

When Feng Shan heard about the four old men’s backgrounds, he immediately shot up from the bench, a gleam of surprised delight flashing in his eyes.

’So these seemingly ordinary old men are all hidden masters.’

’If I could get these four to help manage the camp, its future development would be much more promising.’

"Gentlemen, sit, please sit! You must be tired of standing."

"You kid, you’re a real suck-up."

The four old men chuckled. Without any ceremony, they plopped down on the bench and looked at the humble and subservient Feng Shan before them.

"Let’s get this straight first. We’ll only help you brainstorm ideas, we’re not going to be your laborers," Old Liu said, giving Feng Shan a heads-up to make their position clear.

"Just giving me ideas is more than enough," Feng Shan nodded quickly.

Old Liu was satisfied. "Alright, tell us. What problems are you facing?"

Feng Shan quickly laid out all the recent problems the camp was facing—personnel management, lagging infrastructure development, and the overall development plan for the Crown Territory—explaining everything to the four elders in great detail.

He hoped they could use their vast experience to point him in the right direction.

After they heard him out.

The four elders were silent for a moment, as if each was organizing his thoughts and digesting the information Feng Shan had shared. Then, they exchanged a knowing glance, seemingly communicating their opinions and initial ideas without a word.

Old Liu cleared his throat, the first to break the silence.

"Alright, I’ll kick things off, and my old brothers here can chime in."

"First, about the Crown Territory. Even though this land is all yours, you can’t try to hoard everything for yourself. Since you want to get into tourism, you need to open up the camp."

"You have to let more people get involved, whether it’s residents who want to move to the Crown Territory, outside investors, or even the tourists themselves."

Before he had even finished, Old Zhao nodded in agreement.

"Lao Liu is right. You need to attract a large number of businesses to set up shop, offering unique products and services to enrich the camp’s commercial atmosphere. Then, cooperate with neighboring towns to jointly create tourism projects and share the profits. That’s the only way to make the Crown Territory’s tourism sector bigger and stronger, creating a virtuous cycle."

"Your cooperation model with Kivalina and that... what’s it called... Kaktovik Town is pretty good, but the connection isn’t tight enough."

Old Liu picked up the thread and continued.

"Exactly. Why are you investing so much manpower and resources yourself? Why not attract investment? You only need to assign some employees to manage the camp, and then you just manage the employees. If they don’t do a good job, chew them out. There’s no need to do everything yourself."

"Oh, and ’camp’ isn’t the right word for it. I’ve heard you can do whatever you want with private land in the United States. Can you establish a town? That would raise its administrative level."

Building a town.

Feng Shan was stunned for a moment. He had never really considered that.

His original development plan had revolved solely around running tourism businesses from the camp itself, at most considering how to improve its infrastructure and enrich the tourist activities.

But establishing a town was a plan on a completely different scale and concept.

It would mean a much more comprehensive and systematic layout, involving aspects like land-use planning, population management, commercial operations, and the construction of public service facilities.

A town would need its own streets and communities, as well as various places for residents and tourists to live and entertain themselves, such as shops, restaurants, cafes, theaters, and so on.

At the same time, the town’s character would need to be carefully crafted. It couldn’t just be a simple pile of buildings and facilities; it had to have a soul, a charm that could attract people and leave a lasting impression.

Images of what this town could be began to flash through Feng Shan’s mind. He felt both excited and a little worried.

’Do I have enough ability and resources to realize such a grand vision?’

"Hey, hey, kid! What are you spacing out for?" Old Liu saw Feng Shan’s dazed look and waved a hand in front of his face. "I’ve barely started, and you’re already lost in thought."

The other old men started laughing too. Old Zhang joked,

"Lao Liu’s idea is a good one. If you really build a town, the Crown Territory will become a lively place. The number of tourists would probably multiply. You should really think it over."

Old Li chimed in from the side, "Exactly, exactly. It might seem like a lot of trouble, but as long as it’s planned well, it’s much better than the small-scale stuff you’re doing now."

Feng Shan finally snapped out of it, a slightly embarrassed look on his face.

"Elder Liu, that’s a pretty big idea. I was just thinking about how many things I’d have to consider if I really built a town. Please, continue. I’m listening very carefully now."

But Old Liu just shook his head and waved his hand.

"Don’t get ahead of yourself with the town. The situation abroad is different from back home. First, you need to figure out if you can even establish a town. I’ve said my piece. Do any of you have other ideas?"

With that, Old Liu turned to look at his three old comrades, his eyes asking for their input.

Old Zhang, fiddling with his rabbit-ear hat, said,

"I don’t have much to say. Later, have the restaurant staff come find me. I’ll combine their Western cuisine with some ideas to create some new dishes. Your restaurant either stews or grills everything. It’s a total waste of such good meat and vegetables."

Old Zhao, however, raised his hand with a grin, looking like a schoolboy answering a teacher’s question.

"Xiaofeng, I noticed that all the camp’s supplies have to be shipped in from the outside. I did some asking around, and your transportation costs aren’t cheap—at least ten times the normal rate."

"If you have enough capital, I think you should establish your own fleet of transport planes. The initial investment is high, but in the long run, it will definitely be cheaper than chartering planes."

"Of course, the best-case scenario would be to build a road to the outside world."

Building a road.

It wasn’t that Feng Shan had never thought about it; he had even specifically consulted Frank about it.

After all, if a road could be built, it would be incredibly important for the Crown Territory’s development. It would make travel and transporting goods so much more convenient.

But the difficulty was truly immense.

The straight-line distance from the Crown Territory to the nearest road on the Tundra, the Dalton Highway, was 240 kilometers. If they encountered natural obstacles like lakes or mountains along the way, the distance would be even greater.

Furthermore, the funding needed for road construction was a huge problem. For such a long distance, the procurement of various engineering materials, the rental of machinery and equipment, the hiring of construction workers—every single item would cost a fortune.

The most important point was this.

You couldn’t just build a road because you wanted to.

According to procedure, he would first have to submit an application to the relevant agencies, like the Alaska Department of Transportation.

The applicant would need to submit a detailed project proposal covering the planned route, design standards, construction scale, intended use, and other details.

Then, state government departments would need to review and assess the project’s necessity, feasibility, and potential environmental impact.

Next, Feng Shan would also have to apply for environmental permits from departments like Alaska’s environmental protection agency.

During the application process, he would have to submit an environmental impact assessment report, detailing the potential effects of the road construction on the surrounding ecosystem, wildlife, and water resources, and propose corresponding mitigation measures to minimize negative impacts.

At the same time, the United States Army Corps of Engineers would conduct a secondary review and permitting for any road projects involving water crossings or affecting wetlands.

If the road construction affected federally protected areas like national parks or wildlife refuges, Feng Shan would also need to obtain approval from agencies such as the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

In short.

To build a road, money alone was not enough.

Given the Alaska State Government’s efficiency.

Frank had estimated that it could take twenty years just to get through all the reviews. Actually starting construction might take another ten years, and completion another ten on top of that.

When he heard that timeline.

Feng Shan had completely given up the idea of building a road. Forty years to build one road.

’No matter how much money I have, I could never fill that hole.’

As a retired chief engineer from a provincial construction company, when Old Li heard that it would take forty years to build a road, he stood frozen for a long moment before finally letting out a curse.

"Goddamn useless bastards."

...