Chapter 70
Stephen frowned. “Would the people accept the houses, though?”
George replied without care, “Well, they get a house, don’t they? It’s not our problem whether they accept it or not. If they have a problem with it, they can take it up with the new mayor.”
Stephen finally caught on. All they needed to do was slap some houses together to get the public off their backs, and the new mayor could handle the backlash after.
“That’s a good idea.” Stephen looked at George and said, “It seems I have a lot of things to learn.”
George squeezed a smile. He had picked up the relocation idea from Ethan, who had submitted several reports in the past, and George acquired the proposal from glancing through the papers back then.
There was a follow–up plan too. However, George did not bother to read through the paperwork, so he could not remember much. The only thing he recalled was the public’s complete satisfaction after the execution of the plan, and Ethan resolved the issue flawlessly.
George beat himself up for not studying the report, or he might even be able to save one
billion dollars.
“That’s one issue done, but what about the future of North Hill City?”
George said nothing as he was powerless against the problem.
“I’ll give my dad a call to talk about the solution for the nature reserve,” Stephen said while pulling out his phone and dialing Simon’s number.
“I was about to call you, Stephen.”
The federal government had just wrapped up a meeting concerning the future of North Hill City, and Simon was in attendance.
An analysis showed North Hill City had lost half its GDP, dropping from one trillion dollars to 50 billion dollars. The impact on the city was devastating, and it had a ripple effect on Riveria too.
For the first time, Riveria’s GDP had dropped below 15 trillion dollars.
“We crunched some numbers, and it would take North Hill City ten years just to get back on track. With Riveria’s full support, we might be able to cut the recovery to six years.‘
Ten years? Even with Riveria’s help, the city needed six years to bounce back, and that would take too long.
Chapter 70
+25 BONUS
“Six years is the best we can hope for.
“Since Riveria aims to push past 15 trillion dollars, then 20 trillion dollars in GDP, the province doesn’t have the resources to support North Hill City.
“But we can’t abandon North Hill City, especially when it is part of Riveria. If North Hill City’s economy continues to decline, Riveria will be pushed further from its 15–trillion- dollar goal.”
Everybody fell silent.
Riveria was so close to achieving 20 trillion dollars in GDP, only to plunge below the 15- trillion–dollar mark. No words could express their feelings.
It took years for North Hill City’s GDP to break into the trillion–dollar range, but two weeks was all it took to cut those numbers in half.
“Since Riveria’s goal is to boost the GDP, we’re juggling between improving the situation at North Hill City and developing other cities.”
Everybody got the hint. In other words, the people of North Hill City were left to fend for themselves.
Simon sighed. “That’s the best we can do for now. The development of other cities is the top priority, and North Hill City comes second.‘
With that, the meeting came to an end.
Simon was about to contact Stephen and urge him to keep an eye on developments in other cities when a call from Stephen came in as soon as Simon took out his phone.
“What is it?” he asked.
Stephen told him about the workaround for the nature reserve’s issue.
“Allocate a plot of land to build houses? That’s a good idea.” Simon asked with a smile, ” Who gave you
gave you that idea?”
Stephen remarked without hesitation, “I thought about it all on my own.”
“That’s great.” Simon was overjoyed.
It seemed like the incident with North Hill City was not entirely a bad thing. At least, Stephen was showing improvement in his leadership.
