Longyuan Construction: Strive to be the pioneer of reform and lead the new development of the industry

Whether it is a peninsula Mason who emerged in Maolu at the beginning of last century, a quality-oriented Xiangshan builder who grabbed the beach of Shanghai, or a leading enterprise in the transformation and upgrading of the construction industry under the new round of market expansion... Under the spring breeze of reform, Longyuan construction will never lack innovation and development.

Longyuan Construction, a private construction enterprise born in the 1980s, with a solitary courage, from Xiangshan to Shanghai, and then from Shanghai to the whole country and even the world... In 2017, the Group undertook nearly 50 billion yuan of business, ranking among the top 80 construction contractors in China.

With the pace of national reform and opening up, Longyuan, who came out of Xiangshan at the end of 1983, grew and developed continuously. In 34 years, in the eyes of Lai Zhenyuan, founder of the company, and Lai Chaohui, founder of the second generation of the company, it was the era that propelled Longyuan to take off all over the world. Entering PPP, perfecting the industrial chain in one body and two wings, Longyuan in the future will turn magnificently into "comprehensive service provider of urban investment, construction and operation" and "creator of a better life in the city".

Going out, the spring tide on the peninsula surges along the Huangpu River

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the spring breeze of reform and opening up blew to the coast of the East China Sea. In rural areas, land contract responsibility system is implemented, so that people in Peninsula can take good care of their own reserved land and have leisure time and rich labor force.

The Xiangshan Peninsula, which is near the East China Sea, is mainly financed by fisheries and agriculture. Because they are not rich, they support their livelihoods through construction. The construction capacity of folk projects is strong. Almost every social team has its own construction team. With the help of reform and opening-up, Dongfeng gradually stepped out of Xiangshan to undertake construction business in Hangzhou, Ningbo and other places.

In order to adapt to the situation of reform and opening-up, vigorously develop local economy in Xiangshan and support Township enterprises, the Xiangshan County Revolutionary Committee approved the establishment of "Xiangshan County Second Construction Engineering Company" on July 14, 1980, in the form of "Xiangshan County Second Construction Company", referred to as "Xiangshan Second Construction". At the end of 1983, Lai Zhenyuan led his team to rush to Shanghai, and the 34-year stormy journey of Longyuan's construction was opened.

In the winter of 1983, Shanghai was particularly cold.

"Xiangshan Second Construction" undertook a project of piling construction of seepage-proof wall of water diversion project in Baosteel, Shanghai. This project is in the river water of Wusongkou, Yangtze River. It needs to lay 27,000 piles 9 meters long and 40 centimeters thick to form a 5.7 kilometers long copper wall and iron wall, which is the only national key project in China at that time.

The construction team dare not neglect the arduous construction and the tense cycle. "Against the cold wind, we stood in the waist-deep River to drive piles. When the tide rises, climb ashore, the tide recedes, and then go down into the water to continue piling. Lai Zhenyuan recalled the situation at that time.

Everything comes to him who waits. The impervious wall of Baosteel was completed seven months ahead of schedule, with excellent quality, and saved more than 900,000 yuan in investment for Baosteel. The project was also awarded the National Quality Gold Award. Lai Zhenyuan has become a "knocking brick" to enter Shanghai, the largest construction market in China.

However, Lai Zhenyuan and his construction team had no way, no popularity and no strength at all. "It's hard to find a place with a corporate brand in Shanghai, let alone a fixed residence. Everyone lived in pigsty, cowshed, bathroom, or even an abandoned crematorium."

The cruelty of reality did not defeat Lai Zhenyuan. Over and over again, they took over projects and failed again and again... "In 1984, we finally took over a 190,000 yuan project of Shanghai Innovation Electric Machinery Factory with a building area of 2700 square meters. It should be said that this is the first start-up project of Longyuan construction. Lai Zhenyuan said that since then, he has been bidding for projects one after another, and gradually accumulated considerable credibility through strength and quality.

With the help of the spring breeze of Comrade Xiaoping's Southern Speech, Shanghai began "Pudong Development and Puxi Reform" in the early 1990s. Longyuan people seized the opportunity and developed rapidly by virtue of quality brand reputation. In 1993, the output value increased sharply from 80 million yuan last year to 260 million yuan, reached 518 million yuan in 1995, and became the first output value in Zhejiang Province to exceed 10 yuan in 1995. Billions of construction enterprises.

In 1995, the enterprise was restructured and renamed "Longyuan" in 1998. After that, Longyuan Group seems to inject a new impetus, gradually possessing five first-level qualifications of housing construction and municipal administration, installation, decoration, foundation and ancient gardens. Its business has expanded to more than 20 provinces, municipalities directly under the Central Government and autonomous regions in the country, and also covers them. Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and other overseas markets.

Under the leadership of Lai Zhenyuan, this private construction enterprise from the side of Xiangshan Port, after 34 years of hard work, from the initial undertaking business of more than 100,000 yuan to nearly 50 billion yuan today, from civilized construction site, observation project to Magnolia Award and Luban Award, ranked first in the comprehensive strength of Shanghai construction enterprises for 17 consecutive years. It has become the top 80 contractors in China and the top 500 private enterprises in China. It has made a brilliant contribution along the Huangpu River.

Triple Jump, Quality Career

In Shanghai, an absolutely mature but high-threshold city, it is necessary to have the capital to settle down if you want to get a firm foothold here.Throughout the 34 years since entering Shanghai, the development of Longyuan construction can be divided into three stages.

The first jump was in 1985. What impressed Lai Zhenyuan deeply was his second project.

In early spring and February that year, it was warm and cold at first. The 5-storey frame of the Physical and Chemical Building of Shanghai Second College of Education, which was built by Longyuan, has just cemented, and the Shanghai Engineering Quality Inspection Team has arrived.

Near the end of the inspection, someone suddenly pointed to a small red spot on a frame stigma and questioned it. Lai Zhenyuan did not say a word of excuse. He picked up the hammer and knocked on the pillar on the spot. He found that the red spot was a small piece of broken red brick which was carelessly mixed in when casting cement. There were many steel bars in the pillar. But the man said, "You are building buildings for Shanghai's institutions of higher learning, not farmhouses in the countryside of Xiangshan."

The project won the bid at the lowest price of 880,000 yuan. At that time, the price of building materials soared and the loss was fixed. Lai Zhenyuan's spirit and honest work style, regardless of cost and quality of death insurance project, have won the reputation and market for enterprises.

Also through this "red brick" incident, Lai Zhenyuan summed up two sentences in the process of strictly grasping the quality: public housing as a hotel, ordinary decoration high-level. So far, the concept of "quality business" has taken root in the hearts of Longyuan people.

With excellent quality, the construction of Longyuan ushered in the first great development.

By 1990, the team led by Lai Zhenyuan had won the first prize of quality management advanced units of construction enterprises in Shanghai and the highest prize of Shanghai Architecture "Magnolia Cup" for three consecutive years. In 1990, the completed area reached 118,000 square meters, the qualified rate was 100%, and the excellent rate was 54.7%.

But at the same time, Lai Zhenyuan found that the benefits did not go up, even the phenomenon of loss.

"The root is still in the system, the original implementation of three-level management, namely, the company-engineering team-site, the interests are shared, but the risk is only borne by the company. This system is flawed." Lai Zhenyuan introduced, so he began to reform, learn from the rural land contract responsibility system, implement the project contract responsibility system and continue to improve.

In 1989, Lai Zhenyuan took the project of Shanghai Quartz Sand Factory as a pilot project and tried to implement the "project contracting management responsibility system" with all the delegated responsibilities and rights. After the success, the project contracting management responsibility system was formally and comprehensively implemented in 1991. This new business model makes the situation of "good quality and poor efficiency" change immediately, and various undertaking projects come in succession. Reform and innovation have gradually made Longyuan Construction the leader in Shanghai's construction industry.

This reform has stirred the whole country and attracted the attention of the Ministry of National Construction. Gan Zhijian, then deputy minister, and Zheng Yijun, deputy minister, came to investigate and summarize the successful experience of the project contracting management responsibility system. In 1995, the project manager qualification management method was officially issued to promote the project manager responsibility system to the national construction enterprises.

The third leap is from industry to capital.

On May 24, 2004, Longyuan Construction finally landed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. "Listing gives our enterprises a greater platform for development, but also let us have more hope for the future." Lai Chaohui, the son of Lai Zhenyuan and President of Longyuan Construction, said.

It was precisely this year that Longyuan Construction obtained the super qualification, ranked first in the comprehensive strength of the construction enterprises entering Shanghai in the country, and won the bid of "the first tallest building" Pudong Global Financial and Trade Center. After the listing of enterprises, Longyuan Construction Group actively participated in the operation of the capital market, through the acquisition and other investment behavior, planned and step-by-step access to the upstream and downstream of the construction industry chain.

Entering PPP: Exploring Transition and Starting Again

For 34 years, the people of Longyuan cherished all the hardships and hardships. Lai Zhenyuan and Lai Chaohui, decision makers and managers of enterprises, have never stopped their bold transformation in the process of development. "Enterprise management, first and foremost stable, but also to keep pace with the times, seize the opportunity for development is very important."

As a family business inheriting his father's business, Lai Chaohui modestly expressed that he could not surpass his father's achievements in the field of construction. In 2006, Lai Zhenyuan was elected Vice President of the 4th Council of China Construction Industry Association. This is also the first person who holds this position among Chinese private entrepreneurs.

Lai Chaohui has been the general manager and vice chairman of the company since October 1996. Unlike his parents, Lai Chaohui has more experience in capital market and finance. As early as 2011, the company began to test the BT (Build Transfer) business of water infrastructure investment, trying to transform into a comprehensive construction service provider.

In September 2014, the State Council issued Opinion No. 43 on Strengthening Local Government Debt Management (Guofa [2014). It proposed that "the cooperation model between government and social capital should be popularized and used. The government should make investors have long-term and stable returns through the prior and open revenue agreement rules such as franchise, reasonable pricing and government subsidies." " This means that the country has begun to vigorously promote the PPP model.

Lai Zhenyuan and Lai Chaohui smelled business opportunities, immediately held a shareholders'meeting, and made a decision to set up a special infrastructure investment company and enter the PPP market in an all-round way. Shortly after the tight layout, the PPP Center of the Ministry of Finance was established on December 2, 2014. On December 8, Longyuan Mingcheng Investment Management (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Longyuan Group, was also established. Lai Chaohui became the chairman of the board, and gathered a strong team to fully distribute the PPP business and actively seek to collect it. The transformation of the profit model of the group company will accelerate the strategic transformation of the enterprise.

In September 2015, Longyuan Group acquired 60% of Hangzhou City Investment Construction through Hangzhou Property Exchange. A new strategic pattern of "one body, two wings" has been formed. The "Party A" thinking of the construction team of Hangzhou City Investment Completely makes up for the shortcoming of "Party B" thinking of Longyuan as a construction enterprise.板，可謂PPP轉型過程中的天作之合。至此，也形成以龍元建設集團為主體、龍元明城和杭州城投建設為兩翼的“一體兩翼”格局。

2015年9月，公司中標全國首個會展類PPP項目——福建省晉江市國際會展中心，實現了PPP項目零的突破。從此之后，公司走上了PPP快速發展期，截止目前，集團累計中標PPP項目63個，累計總投資額740多億元，名列全國民營企業前茅。

盡管這中間也存在“坐上過山車”般的波瀾起伏，但賴朝暉與團隊一路所向披靡。

目前明城公司和杭州城投建設員工超過350人，加上PPP區域市場總部、各PPP市場部等，龍元集團專業從事PPP的不下500人。這樣的團隊規模，在全國也不多見。 除此以外，公司構筑覆蓋全國的市場網絡也日趨完善。截至去年年底，中標PPP項目的省份達15個，跟蹤洽談項目涉及80%以上省份。公司組建了8個市場團隊、8個區域市場總部、17個市場部，初步形成了廣泛覆蓋的PPP市場網絡。

美好愿景，打造城市投資建設運營綜合服務商

在進入PPP領域初期，龍元集團就明確了自身定位：打造中國領先的PPP全生命周期投資建設運營服務平臺。通過1+1+1+1>4的資源整合，為政府提供高效優質的服務。對于集團未來的發展，賴朝暉表示，轉型升級一直是企業的主旋律。

根據《龍元建設戰略規劃（2018-2020年）》，未來三年，將從目前施工總承包和PPP兩翼齊飛，逐步轉到‘城市投資建設運營綜合服務商’的定位上來，成為城市美好生活、幸福生活的創造者。

具體來說，龍元建設將始終聚焦于城市投資、建設及運營服務業務，通過一體化發展、平臺化運作，整合內外部資源，完善城市功能，提升城市品質，不斷提高城市服務水平，增強城市居民的幸福感和獲得感。

到2020年末，力爭實現凈資產規模和利潤明顯提升，業務涵蓋包括以PPP投資、建設、運營為主體的投資板塊，以設計、總承包、鋼結構、幕墻及建筑產業化為主體的建設板塊，以運營、維護和城市管理業務為主體的運營板塊，以及以私募基金等金融業務為主體的金融板塊這四大板塊。

要成為一個合格的“城市投資建設運營綜合服務商”和“城市美好生活的創造者”，意味著龍元將加大城市基礎設施和公共事業領域業務的拓展。

不過，根據賴朝暉的觀察，2016年開始，PPP項目的競爭進入白熱化狀態，出現了一些偽PPP，但公司不忘初心、規范自律，堅持原則，做到“不入庫的項目不做，采購流程不合規的項目不做，有融資硬傷的項目不做”。

“碰壁了我們繞道走，與政府部門、金融機構保持良好溝通，做好風險控制，降低項目融資風險。”賴朝暉說，“規范是國家的要求、市場的需要，更是我們民營企業生存的底線。”

雖說當前的投資領域以PPP為主，但這絕不意味著龍元建設放棄其他領域的投資。賴朝暉表示，一方面，PPP是現階段政府推動基礎設施建設的最佳手段，且龍元早已搶占制高點，并已全面參與城市投資、建設、運營的各個領域。另一方面，對于和集團戰略方向相吻合、對提升業務專業能力有幫助的產業上的投資機會，也需要挖掘。

創新和發展是龍元建設穩步前行不變的主題。面對新形勢、新常態，龍元建設將積極調整自身業務結構，提高業務能力，夯實基礎管理，創新管理機制，適應新的變化與挑戰。

“完善自己的產業鏈，提升集團全領域、全周期的服務能力。但需要強調一點，無論做什么領域的投資嘗試，都要牢牢把控風險，不能超出自身能力盲目冒進。”

“未來，我們為人民美好生活而奮斗。”賴朝暉說。

（原文刊載于《象山信息港》）