The traffic arteries in Huaihai Province, including Xudong Expressway and a number of national and provincial highways across Huaihai Province, are mainly distributed in an east-west direction.

The main north-south road in the coastal area of Huaidong is the Jinghai Highway, which was built in the mid-eighties and according to the standards of secondary roads at that time.

As the only provincial-level trunk road in the coastal area of Huaidong, Jinghai Highway is also the economic lifeline of Xiapu, Xinjin and other coastal cities and counties in Huaihai Bay, and the economic industries of Huaihai Bay counties have been mainly distributed along both sides of this provincial highway in the past ten years.

The asphalt pavement was completed in the early nineties, and the total length of the road is more than 200 kilometers, but the width of the road surface is only 8 to 12 meters.

Although the economic development of the Huaidong region lagged behind, by this time, the narrow Jinghai Highway was already overwhelmed.

In addition, due to historical reasons, factories, business and trade areas and residential areas in county towns and towns along the route have all developed intensively along both sides of the Jinghai Highway, leaving no sufficient setback for the widening of the Jinghai Highway.

The expansion of the Jinghai Highway will now involve the demolition and relocation of five counties and districts along the route and a number of towns, and the cost and workload of the demolition and relocation will be staggering.

The relatively pragmatic approach is to renovate other longitudinal feeder roads in addition to the Jinghai Highway.

The construction of the coastal defense highway in the sixties along the breakwater for combat readiness was an option.

Huaihai Bay is one of the important coastal defense outposts, and there are numerous coastal defense posts, Wujing border defense police stations, antiaircraft artillery target bases, air force radar observation stations, naval navigation stations, and other military institutions along the coast.

The coastal defense highway built in the early days was a national defense preparation function for the rapid mobility of the army and the smooth transportation of military equipment in wartime.

The Haiphong Highway is almost quite parallel to the Jinghai Highway, and was initially positioned as a branch line of the Jinghai Highway, which was jointly built by the military and the local government.

At the moment, it is necessary to tighten the belt and engage in construction, and the national defense and military spending has become very tight since the late eighties. The main sections of Haiphong Highway are still gravel roads, only six or seven meters wide, and the state of disrepair and damage is relatively serious.

After the large-scale construction climax of Xinpu, the section of Haiphong Highway in Xinpu Development Zone was the first to be expanded to a high standard, and has become one of the first main roads in the industrial park.

However, the ultimate goal of Xinpu Port is to build a comprehensive hub port in the Huai Bay region, not just an industrial port that simply serves the development of local industries.

In addition to the construction of the horizontal road network that is currently being done, the construction of the vertical road network should also be grasped.

In this way, it can not only share the pressure of the Jinghai Highway, promote the economic development of the coastal areas of the Huaihai Bay, improve the layout of coastal industries, but also facilitate the logistics needs of the coastal areas of the Huaihai Bay, which are concentrated in Xinpu Port to release.

If the military can be pulled together to promote the expansion of the coastal defense highway, in addition to the military being able to pull out some funds, the military will be able to take the lead in the construction, and it will also be able to resolve the local resistance that may be encountered to the greatest extent.

Once the Haiphong Highway is upgraded from a 6 or 7-meter-wide gravel road to an important traffic artery along the Huai Bay coast, it will naturally be possible for the military to attach importance to the strategic position of Sinpo Port as an outpost of coastal defense, and it is entirely possible for the military to build a naval equipment and supply base in Sinpu on a large scale.

Cui Xiangdong and other old classmates are all from military backgrounds and do not have too strong interest in the economy, but when they heard Shen Huai mention that they should build a high-standard coastal defense highway, which involves national defense and war preparedness, their eyes lit up.

Shen Huai and other local officials are interested in the economic value of the highway after its expansion, and the value of national defense preparedness behind the transformation of the 6 or 7-meter-wide gravel road into a high-grade coastal highway with a width of 14 meters is something that Cui Xiangdong and other veteran comrades have paid more attention to.

The veteran comrades of the Xucheng Navy Cadre Rest House have mainly retired from the Huaihai Fleet, and they have always been concerned about the construction of maritime defense in the Huaihai Bay and nearby waters.

Cui Xiangdong and other veteran comrades are well aware of the unbearable status quo of the 200-kilometer coastal defense highway and the Jinghai Highway along the north bank of the Zhu River in the Huaihai Bay, and they have also made suggestions to the Huaihai Fleet, the naval department, and the General Logistics Department on many occasions.

However, in the current environment of relatively serious inflation, military spending has not increased for several years, and the military is now unable to even come up with money for the maintenance of warships.

Shen Huai is now advocating that the local government take the lion's share, hoping that the military can participate in the coordinated advancement.

Even if Shen Huai made it clear that this was his "sinister" intention of inviting the old comrades to come to Yuanshan this time, the old comrades were no longer subtle, and they all came to the front to ask about the details.

When the veteran comrades of the cadre rest center visit Xinpu tomorrow, there will be a detailed introduction in this regard, and Shen Huai is not in a hurry to confide in his feelings for a while.

Seeing that the time was about the same, Shen Huai thought about getting out. The specific task of entertaining the veteran comrades was the responsibility of the Yushan County Party Committee and the county government, and he was unwilling to follow the team every step of the way.

Shut down

Cui Xiangdong didn't let Shen Huai get out easily, grabbed him and said: "On the issue of the construction of the coastal defense highway, the fleet has proposed it once or twice, and several sets of plans have been made. Last month, some people went to the dry rest house to report this matter, that is, some people hoped that we old guys could give full play to their spare heat and ask for matching funds from above. Now that the local government is willing to fund the construction, I think it is impossible for the fleet and the general rear to not actively cooperate, so there is no question of asking us old guys to do the work. Your purpose this time is still the Xudong Railway double-track project, right?"

"Old man, you are really difficult," Shen Huai said with a smile, "Xudong Railway, our main goal now is to ensure that the east extension of the Xinpu Port can start smoothly next year, the Xudong Railway electrification transformation and double-track project, the investment is too large, to say that it will cost five or six billion, and it is likely that seven or eight billion will not be able to stop, not that we can consider it now." Even if there is consideration, the difficulty is too great, and it needs to be weighed repeatedly before I can report to you, old man......"

The eastward extension project of the Xudong Railway will extend the branch railway from the terminal station of the Xudong Railway in Beicheng District at this time to the Xinpu Port under construction, and complete the preliminary connection between the Xinpu Port and the railway network.

Because it is a branch railway, the investment is limited, and the survey distance of the whole line is 36 kilometers, which is almost parallel to the Meipu Highway, and the project budget is 300 million.

The East China Railway Bureau was reluctant to pay for the construction funds, and Shen Huai advocated that Huaineng Group, Meigang, Xinpu Development Group and other companies should raise funds to set up a joint enterprise to build this branch line.

With a fund of 300 million yuan, it is not very difficult for enterprises such as Huaineng and Meigang to come together, and the province and city also support this plan. The construction of the branch line is mainly funded by state-owned capital, and there are no policy obstacles, but it still needs to be approved by the railway department.

However, this problem is not very big, Tian Jiageng proposed to develop Donghua into a comprehensive hub port city, proposed to develop the economy of Huaihai Province in a large pattern, and the comprehensive connection of railways, highway networks and ports is the top priority of the province's recent promotion.

The Ministry of Railways and the military can say that they have no funds and will not contribute to the construction of projects such as the Haiphong Highway and the eastern extension of the Xudong Railway, but if the local government raises capital, if the Ministry of Railways and the military obstruct it, the lawsuit will not be afraid of losing even if it is fought to the State Council and the Central Military Commission.

However, what Shen Huai really wants to do is the electrification of the Xudong Railway and the transformation of the double-track project.

The domestic railway department is brewing a railway speed-up, Shen Huai got information from the inside, after the speed, the maximum speed of domestic trains will exceed 130 kilometers per hour, and at this time, the speed of trains between Xucheng and Donghua on the Xudong Railway is not even less than 50 kilometers per hour.

Due to the single-track track, the train often needs to stop at the fork and wait for a long time for the opposite train to pass before continuing on the road.

For the mileage of more than 200 kilometers from Xucheng to Donghua, passengers and trucks usually have to travel for more than an hour or even longer, and even the average speed of 30 kilometers per hour cannot be reached.

Under such traffic efficiency, even if the economy of cities and counties along the Xudong Railway is far from being developed, the transportation capacity is becoming increasingly saturated.

Even if the East Extension Branch Line Project connects Xinpu Port with the Xudong Railway in the future, there is actually no way to free up too much capacity space.

After the electrification of the Xudong Railway and the transformation of the double-track project, the transport capacity can theoretically be increased by eight to ten times, and the traffic speed will also be increased by two to three times, which will become the core aorta in Huaihai Province, which is much more important than the simple Xudong Railway East Extension Branch Line Project.

The problem is that the investment in the entire project is huge, and the East China Railway Bureau is currently giving priority to the development of the railway network in developed areas, and is not even willing to come up with 300 million yuan of funds for the East Extension Branch Line, let alone 67 billion or even nearly 10 billion yuan of heavenly funds.

In addition, although the Xudong Railway is in danger of being overwhelmed, it is also the main interest of the Ministry of Railways in Huaihai Province, and it is impossible for the East China Railway Bureau to say that the Xudong Railway will be assigned to the local area to carry out electrification transformation and double-track construction.

Shen Huaida didn't have the idea of starting the double-line project now, but it was only after his second uncle Song Qiaosheng instructed Song Hongqi to make that phone call that he had some ideas, and only then did he think about whether there was a possibility to promote it.

What can really be promoted will be another super project in Huaihai Province in addition to the comprehensive development of Xinpu Port.

Although the Haiphong Highway is more than 200 kilometers long, it is only a two-lane facility, and the expansion project of the whole line only needs 300 million or 400 million yuan, which can only be regarded as a small project in comparison.

However, the idea is not yet mature, and Shen Huai is unwilling to discuss openly in front of so many people.

Seeing that Shen Huai had no intention of talking more, Cui Xiangdong did not chase after him and said:

"I also think about the reform you talked about this afternoon. At present, bureaucracy, corruption, and pollution, and some people become rich first and then become unkind. There are even arguments about what to do next, and some people even think that they have reached the point where they must stop and fix things up. I am old, I have been living in China all my life, I have no knowledge, and I sometimes have some doubts when I listen to the old comrades arguing in my ears every day. At this time, it is necessary to go out for a walk, although there are many noises and contradictions, we still have to grasp the main contradictions and do our work......"

Why did Shen Huai submit the electrification and double-track reconstruction project of the Xudong Railway at this time, did he want to borrow Cui Xiangdong and the old man surnamed Liang and other old comrades to pry open the mouth of the East China Railway Bureau, Xiao Haomin and they did not know Shen Huai's intentions.

Although it seems that Shen Huai and him are both county-level officials, the super project that Shen Huai is considering with billions of investments is not even something he can participate in now.

However, listening to Cui Xiangdong talk about the content of the conversation in a vague and seemingly unspecified aspect, he also sensitively felt that this probably meant that they could not reach it in China, and Shen Huai and Cui Xiangdong could reach a higher level, and there were some differences on how to go next in reform and opening up.

It seems that before every important meeting, some dissenting voices become more intense.

It is already the late autumn of '96, and the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China will be after the autumn of next year.

At present, the leadership group of the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China can only be said to have a general outline, and whether there will be adjustments or changes is closely related to the current controversy.

Xiao Haomin didn't know if the topic that Shen Huai and Cui Xiangdong were talking about had something to do with this.