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the substantial renovation of the building's exterior undoubtedly shows that the local government has put its determination to revitalize idle assets into practice. however, has this huge landmark of idle assets really been "reborn from the ashes"?

written by guan buyu

a water supply building made dushan county, an unknown county in the southwestern border, become popular overnight.

a huge unfinished building was built with an investment of 256 million yuan, and it was so completely rotten that it was criticized by the ministry of housing and urban-rural development, ranked second by netizens as the "top ten ugliest buildings in china in 2019", and also involved 40 billion yuan of local debt in dushan county.

such a "landmark building" full of negative halos has recently been reported to be renovated and revitalized with an investment of 150 million yuan.

is it the courage to face the challenge head on, or the pain forgotten after the wound heals? the absurd beginning should not end in an even more absurd way.

01

in fact, it is a bit unfair that the shuisi building has become famous for being an unfinished building with sky-high prices. because when the shuisi building started construction in 2016, the 2.56 small goals were just a small ripple in the "urban construction frenzy" of dushan county.

this impoverished county, with a population of only 360,000 and fiscal revenue of less than 900 million yuan, invested 13.1 billion yuan in 20 urban construction and tourism projects in 2016. the total investment scale of the jingxin valley scenic spot project, to which the shuisi building belongs, is 5 billion yuan. in such a fanatical atmosphere, investing several hundred million yuan to build a "cultural and tourism landmark" is not a big deal.

however, inamong the many major projects in dushan county, the water authority building can be considered ambitious and full of creativity.

according to the original idea, the building would be built with a wooden frame structure with mortise and tenon joints, with a height of 99.9 meters, a total construction area of ​​60,000 square meters, and a depth of 240 meters. if it is done, it will dwarf the 26.92-meter hall of supreme harmony in the forbidden city.

the local government also applied for three guinness records for the water authority building: the world's largest archway, the largest aquarium building, and the tallest glazed ceramic building.

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according to the plan, this miraculous building will be completed in 2019 and open to the public as a cultural and tourism complex. however, the actual situation is that after two years of construction and 256 million yuan spent, the funds were no longer available.

in 2018, construction of the water authority building had actually stopped.at this time, the main structure of the water authority building had been basically completed, and the wooden structure and glazed ceramic facades were mostly completed. such a 30-story, neither ancient nor modern, giant unfinished building stood abruptly in the "scenic area" that was ignored and overgrown with weeds, which was very eye-catching.

the local authorities tried to block the ruins with a fence, but it couldn't even block the 8-meter-high stone lions at the gate. it also couldn't stop the "ruin exploration enthusiasts" who came here to explore the ruins, causing a sensation on the internet.

▲dushan county water conservancy bureau building (picture/video screenshot)

on october 8, 2020, the relevant conclusion came.

the ministry of housing and urban-rural development’s official website published a “notice on issues concerning the giant guan gong statue project in jingzhou city, hubei province and the shuisi building project in dushan county, guizhou province” which stated:

the water conservancy bureau building built in the jingxin valley scenic area of ​​yingshan town, dushuang county, guizhou province, is 99.9 meters high and has an investment of 256 million yuan. it has problems such as being out of touch with reality, building "cultural landmarks" indiscriminately, and destroying the natural landscape.

the building and the people who built it have become nationally famous negative examples, and are truly "deserted".at that time, pan zhili, the then county party secretary who had pushed for the construction of the water conservancy building, was known as the "urban construction maniac" and "pan the bold" and had been dismissed for nearly two years.

pan dadan took office in dushan in 2011 and was dismissed in 2018. in less than two terms, he left dushan county with a debt of 40 billion yuan and a bunch of bizarre large projects, including a university town, a film and television city, an artificial ancient city, a data center, etc. the shuisi building is the most famous among them, but it is by no means the largest investment.

the huge legacy left by "pan dadan" is a heavy burden for dushan county, which only got rid of poverty in march 2020.

02

after dushan county became an "internet celebrity", the fate of the shuisilu building has also attracted widespread attention.

in september 2021, a video of "the water company building being demolished" was circulated on the internet. in the video, cranes were erected around the water company building, and the external wooden structure was visibly reduced.

however, when the media interviewed them, the official response given by the other party was "just safety maintenance work." the purpose of removing the damaged external wooden structure is to eliminate safety hazards - the fire department has previously pointed out that a large number of external wooden structures cannot pass the test.

therefore, the project of demolishing the wooden structure is not to demolish the building, but to "vitalize the assets."

▲dushan county water conservancy bureau building (picture/video screenshot)

the dushan county government has never planned to demolish the water conservancy bureau building, as documented.

on july 14, 2020, dushan county issued a document stating that the new leadership team "will rectify the image projects, political achievement projects, and unfinished projects left over from previous blind borrowing and haphazard expansion.through the methods of continuing construction, delaying construction, transferring construction and reducing construction scale, rectification will be promoted in batches and by categories.""transform the water authority building into the jingxin valley hotel project and revitalize the assets by signing a cooperation agreement through a market-oriented operation model."

dushan county chose to extend the life of this "internet celebrity building". however, it is not easy to find a buyer for an unfinished project. the buyer was discouraged by the initial cleanup.

on march 2, 2020, the relevant bidding documents for the "continuation of jingxin valley hotel" were sent to guizhou hotel group. guizhou hotel group requires that the follow-up work of the original "water authority building" must be completed before the project quality and fire inspection can be started. however, the fire protection project of jingxin valley hotel has not been completed and does not meet the acceptance conditions; in addition, the fire protection construction drawings of the original project have not been reviewed and cannot be filed. if this problem cannot be solved, it will seriously delay the rectification progress of jingxin valley hotel. currently, an open bidding is being conducted to attract external funds to solve the fire protection and other problems of jingxin valley hotel.

this is a "prisoner's dilemma".

potential buyers certainly hope to minimize the risk of falling into the trap and insist on cleaning up the mess before entering the market. however, local authorities must also have concerns - where will the money for cleaning up come from? even if a lot of debt defaults are left unresolved and the water company building is prioritized for revitalization, there will still be concerns - what if the money for cleaning up is spent but the buyer still does not take over?

when the water supply bureau building was started, many certificates were not obtained, so it is no exaggeration to say that it was an illegal building.faced with such an unfinished project that is rotten from the beginning to the end, it is difficult to make the decision to take over, and it is easy to find reasons not to want to take it over - there are more than just a fire protection project that needs to be cleaned up?

in short, dushan county and guizhou hotel group did not reach any substantial results. in the subsequent takeover rumors, this provincial state-owned enterprise with professional counterparts never appeared again.

03

it is rumored that there are two more companies that are interested in taking over the shuisi building.

one is the listed company hongtao co., ltd.

hongtao co., ltd. took over the construction of the water conservancy building in april 2017. at the end of 2019, hongtao co., ltd. said that it had received 60 million yuan in payments for the project and that its accounts receivable had rolled to 150 million yuan. in its annual report, the company listed the water conservancy building project as a "major unfinished project" and gave the reasons: the follow-up construction funds had not been in place, and the project investment scale was too large and did not meet actual needs.

the resentment is so great that you can smell it through the screen.

this "big victim" who was deeply trapped in the water company building was once rumored to be a potential buyer, which may seem a bit unbelievable to outsiders.

in fact, turning "creditors" into "owners" is indeed one of the common means of "debt reduction" in this round of local governments.this creates room for imagination that "hongtao co., ltd. takes over the water company building."

however, this rumor is just a fantasy to watch the fun. hongtao group has never publicly expressed its intention to take over. even if the local government is willing, hongtao group is unable to take over - this construction company, which is deeply in debt to the local government, is unable to take care of itself, and its business performance has been declining since then. even if it bites the bullet and takes over, the water company building will continue to be unfinished.

▲the water company building under renovation (photo/video screenshot)

another rumored takeover candidate, nanzhuo group, is a local guizhou enterprise.

nanzhuo group is mainly engaged in the investment, construction and operation of cultural tourism projects in guizhou province, and is good at "participating in the transformation and upgrading of local government platforms". most of the group's cultural tourism projects in guizhou province are in cooperation with local platforms. in july 2020, an insider of nanzhuo did reveal to the media that "we are indeed ready to take over this project."

however, nanzhuo group is mainly engaged in construction and its operational capabilities are not strong.the group's previous investment projects had problems with revenue confirmation and accounts receivable, and its ability to take over was questionable. the result was indeed a lot of noise but little action - nanzhuo holdings only participated in the road construction project of jingxin valley scenic area in dushan county, and there was no further news.

in short, it is not easy to find a "white knight" who is willing and able to take over an unfinished project like the water company building. therefore, the asset revitalization that extended the life of the water company building has stagnated for a long time, and there is very little public information in 2021 and 2022.

the only thing worth noting is the "dushan county yingshan town jingxin valley hotel upgrading and renovation project registration" issued by the dushan county development and reform bureau in 2022. the project construction unit is xinying cultural tourism investment.the total investment of the project is 360 million yuan - the total budget of the water conservancy bureau building project in 2016 was 310 million yuan, and the renovation of the unfinished building is more expensive than building a new one.

however, this filing information did not attract much attention. xinying cultural tourism investment is wholly owned by the dushan county financial industry development service center. it is actually a "debt repayment center" and its investment strength can be imagined. xinying cultural tourism investment, with total assets of more than 200 million in 2022, suffered a loss of more than 50 million. can it be of great use?

04

since july 2023, important documents related to debt repayment have been issued one after another. as the pressure on local debt repayment increases, dushan county has also stepped up its efforts to "revitalize assets" and has made frequent moves on the "jingxin valley hotel project".

on august 4 of the same year, the development and reform bureau of dushan county announced on the county government website that "the filing of the jingxin valley hotel upgrading and renovation project in yingshan town, dushan county has been adjusted". the total investment of the project increased from 360 million yuan to 364.5381 million yuan, and the construction scale and content were changed from "the renovation and renovation of the jingxin valley hotel with a construction area of ​​71,318.5 square meters and the square ancillary facilities" to "the planned land area of ​​the project is 40,785.19 square meters, the land area is 7,307.99 square meters, and the total construction area is 74,654.22 square meters".

more precise and detailed adjustments to the numbers indicate substantive progress.

as expected, on august 9, the guizhou provincial public resources trading network released the "dushan county yingshan town jingxin valley hotel upgrading and renovation project design and construction general contracting (epc) tender announcement". the jingxin valley hotel upgrading and renovation project has a planned land area of ​​40,785.19 square meters, a land area of ​​7,307.99 square meters, a total construction area of ​​74,654.22 square meters, a contract estimated price of 150 million yuan, and a planned construction period of 213 days.

in early january 2024, the project progress accelerated again. the bidding agency entered the site, the planning and design bidding announced the list of winning candidates, and the "jingxin valley hotel project" entered the substantive start-up stage.

the 2024 dushan county government work report clearly states that:"the jingxin valley hotel will be completed and put into use within the year, and the jingxin valley scenic area will be put into operation."

dushan's frequent and confident actions are due to two investors: guizhou tourism industry development group co., ltd. and gemei group, which are actually controlled by the provincial state-owned assets supervision and administration commission. the participation of provincial state-owned enterprises was expected, but the participation of gemei group attracted more attention.

green hotel group, a subsidiary of gem group, owns multiple hotel brands such as greentree inn and is one of the leaders in the domestic hotel industry. gem group officially entered dushan county on october 25, 2023, when the chairman of gem group led a team to dushan for an inspection and research. from january 15 to 17, 2024, the chairman of gem group went to dushan again, and the project was accelerated.

▲the renovated jingxin valley hotel (picture/video screenshot)

photos of the scene that have been circulating online recently show that the iconic glazed pieces and wooden exteriors of the water authority building have all disappeared.in its place is the architectural appearance common to modern large hotels.

there is no more shuisi building in the world, only jingxin valley hotel.

05

the substantial renovation of the building's exterior undoubtedly shows that the local government has put its determination to revitalize idle assets into practice. however, has this huge idle asset landmark really been "reborn from the ashes"? frankly speaking, it is not optimistic at the moment.

first of all, the "starting point" of jingxin valley hotel is too high, and the total construction cost is prohibitively expensive.

the 150 million yuan investment in this tender is equivalent to a construction cost of about 20,000 yuan per square meter based on the building area, which is much higher than the average construction cost of 5,000 to 10,000 yuan per square meter of domestic five-star hotels.

moreover, 150 million yuan is not enough. according to the 364.5 million yuan registered for the project, the project needs to invest another 200 million yuan in the future. taking into account the 256 million yuan of unfinished projects and the continuous maintenance investment since 2018, the cost of the completed jingxin valley hotel has exceeded 600 million yuan.

running such an expensive large hotel, the pressure of subsequent operations is undoubtedly enormous.

furthermore, jingxin valley hotel is a supporting facility of the scenic area, and to revitalize the hotel we must revitalize the scenic area.jingxin valley scenic area is a large project with an investment budget of 5 billion yuan. does the local government have the ability to revitalize it? even if the construction of the scenic area can be successfully completed, the number of tourists is also a big problem.

how many tourists does jingxin valley hotel, a super "money-eating beast" with a construction area of ​​more than 70,000 square meters, receive in a year?

▲jingxin valley scenic area (picture/video screenshot)

guizhou is indeed a major tourist province, but a luxury hotel with a construction area of ​​70,000 square meters nearly 20 kilometers away from the county seat is too extravagant - even the five-star guizhou sheraton hotel in the provincial capital guiyang has a construction area of ​​only 50,000 square meters.

it is not normal market logic to buy a good horse in order to get a luxurious saddle.

the only "thousand-mile horse" that can be counted on is tourism. dushan does have certain tourism resources, but can it really rank among the top in guizhou?

libo county, which is at the forefront of tourism in guizhou province, receives 12 million tourists a year, which is 4 to 5 times that of dushuang county. however, it does not have such an expensive and large "super luxury hotel".

taking various factors into consideration, even if the project of transforming the water bureau building into a hotel can be successfully completed, it will be difficult to maintain operations in the future.

the local government’s eagerness to “redeem debt” is understandable, but such a huge amount of local debt cannot be “painlessly resolved” and the debt-reduction idea of ​​“not leaving any behind” is unrealistic.

dushan’s economy probably cannot afford the cost of “falling into the same pit twice”.