089 An Investment of One Hundred Billion Dollars?

In the conference room of a hotel near Hollywood, Li Daniu met with designers from six design firms.

These six firms were all world-renowned. It could be said that each of them had left landmark buildings in one country or another.

By Tuvalu’s own national strength, it would have been impossible to attract any of them at all. But who could blame that when Tuvalu now had a king famous throughout the world?

And that king had been valued by Wall Street at two billion dollars on the strength of a single work.

When the six firms heard that the renderings they had submitted had been rejected outright by Li Daniu, none of them reacted especially strongly. No designer or firm could ever produce a design that satisfied a client on the first try.

But when they learned that the reason for rejection was simply that the designs were not grand enough, they were all speechless.

The plans they had drawn up would have cost at least well over a billion dollars to build, far beyond what Tuvalu, or even what Li Daniu had thus far shown himself to be worth, could possibly afford.

The designers from the six firms had already prepared themselves to cut and trim their overall schemes in order to reduce the investment.

Yet they had not expected the opposite result.

In the conference room, Li Daniu stood before a projector, which displayed an aerial view of the Auckland Islands.

The six firms sat beside the conference table, ready to hear what insight this king of Tuvalu might have.

“Honestly, everyone here seems to look down on Tuvalu quite a bit,” Li Daniu said, striking first with his opening words.

Before the designers below could explain that it was not that they looked down on Tuvalu, but that their country’s prime minister had initially given them a budget of only one billion dollars, Li Daniu went on.

“The reason I invited all of you here is to talk about my vision for Tuvalu’s future development. Then I want you to take that vision and design to your heart’s content.”

“I believe that when it comes to design, all of you are masters, while I know nothing about it. But when it comes to Tuvalu’s future development, I don’t think any of you understands it better than I do. So I hope you will listen carefully to what I am about to say, because I will say it only once.”

Li Daniu did not worry in the least about offending the designers before him. He was the consumer now, the one with the money. Even if he offended these designers, it did not matter. He refused to believe that, so long as he was willing to spend, there would be no one in this world willing to design for him.

“I believe that the development of any place, whether prosperous or not, has a great deal to do with how convenient its transportation is. And our New Tuvalu is surrounded by sea on all sides, an island nation, so the airport and the harbor will be the most important parts of New Tuvalu’s design.”

“My budget for the airport is set at two billion dollars. Aside from accommodating large passenger aircraft, the most important part of this airport will be for private jets. I believe that in the future, New Tuvalu International Airport will be the airport with the greatest private-jet traffic in the world.”

“Besides the airport, the harbor is also a top priority. Because there are many reefs around Tuvalu, I want your design to extend the harbor outward through land reclamation, rather than being as petty as the previous proposal. What do you call a harbor that cannot even berth ten-thousand-ton cargo ships?”

Ignoring the dazed looks on the designers’ faces, Li Daniu continued speaking to himself.

“Once the transportation problem is solved, the next issue is tourism. Our New Tuvalu has extremely favorable natural resources. Within five kilometers of the islands north of Auckland Island, there are dozens of small islands. This could be turned into a tourist destination no less impressive than the Maldives.”

“And on the Snares Islands, there are vast forests, mostly composed of tree-like ferns growing up to five meters tall. On the main Auckland Islands themselves, there are Mount Cargill, Mount Rainier, Mount Duvier, Mount Easton, and Babel Peak. Why should these advantages not be developed? For mountain and forest tourism, you can draw on the experience of Hua Country.”

“Beyond the land itself, New Auckland Islands also have bison, seals, sea lions, and walruses. As for birds, records show 126 species, with penguins and petrels particularly abundant, while the number of black gulls alone exceeds 2.75 million pairs. Why should these animal resources not be put to use?”

By this point, the designers below were no longer merely dumbfounded; they were looking at Li Daniu as though he were a fool, daydreaming in broad daylight.

You think we don’t know how to develop things? You think we don’t know how to make use of natural resources? Do you even know how much money it would take to develop all this? Even if you had that much money and developed all of it, and even if people were willing to travel to Tuvalu, how many years would it take to recoup such a massive investment?

If it were really that easy, do you think the people of New Zealand had lost their minds and sold you the Auckland Islands, with conditions so good?

“Besides tourism, New Tuvalu must also develop commerce. Since people are coming here as tourists, shopping will naturally be essential. The plan for New Tuvalu must include a commercial district, and this district should be divided into three zones. The first should be characterized by quality goods at low prices, modeled after Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. The second should be characterized by a concentration of famous brands, modeled after Hong Kong in Hua Country. The third should be characterized by high-end luxury, where every luxury brand in the world must be available, modeled after Paris in France.”

The designers, as if by agreement, began silently complaining again. Of course we can design it. Not to mention three zones, even ten divisions would be no problem for us. But would those brands be willing to open stores here?

“And for the overall urban planning, you can take Singapore as your reference and turn New Tuvalu into the world’s number one garden city.”

A garden city? Tuvalu has only eleven thousand people in total, not even as many as a small town in many countries, and you want to build a city? A ghost city?

“Besides that, your designs for New Tuvalu will also need some landmark buildings. And by landmark buildings, I do not mean merely something that serves as a city’s landmark, but buildings so distinctive that the moment people see photographs of them, they will know they are in Tuvalu.”

“An auction house, a racetrack, a government building, a royal palace, a television station, and so on...”

And so on? Are you still not awake, still dreaming? Your country ranks fourth from the bottom in land area in the world and has been rated by the United Nations as one of the least developed nations. Who gave you the confidence to want so many landmark buildings?

At last, the designers seated below could not hold back any longer. One of them stood up and, with an odd smile, asked, “May I ask, Your Majesty King Tarek, what is the overall construction budget for New Tuvalu?”

The overall budget? After thinking for a moment, Li Daniu said, “Ten billion dollars? Or perhaps more?”