Greater Halifax Partnership CEO Paul Kent and DDI chairman Martin Li at the MOU signing.
哈利法克斯地区合作局与东渡国际集团签署合作备忘录的现场。
文/Chris Muise
译/Christine Qin Yang
对于东渡国际集团而言，在新省的投资如同一场长跑赛，稳健是它赢得比赛的关键。
今年五月份，总部位于上海的投资集团东渡国际（DDI），与新斯科舍省商务公司（NSBI）以及哈利法克斯地区合作局（GHP）签署了合作备忘录，正式确认在新斯科舍省地区进行长期性、多阶段的开发计划，并将为新省带来更多的中国游客。
自此，东渡国际在中国开展市场测试，完成设计理念部分，并在新省盖斯伯勒县(Guysborough)展开详细的市场调研。据悉，东渡将在盖斯伯勒县打造两座奢华度假村，分别坐落在社布鲁克(Sherbrook)和圣约瑟夫(Saint Joseph)——主体服务对象为喜爱环球旅行的中国商务人士 。
“首个项目即将启动，我们正处于筹备阶段，这次项目的名称为亨利赫克斯福德(Henry Huxsford)，位于圣约瑟夫。” 东渡国际发言人暨新省顾问斯蒂芬·邓普西先生接着谈到：“设想一下，本次项目的规模为300至500幢别墅，所以现在工程处于建设准备阶段，之后就可以动工。我们正着手于这方面的准备。”
东渡国际与盖斯伯勒县的合作项目森林面积达1,200公顷。邓普西先生表示，东渡还有许多类似的大规模项目。取代这片森林的，将是一片度假别墅。这项设计聚焦中国市场，并将逐步地满足市场需求。明年夏季，计划将有50至100幢别墅完工。
邓普西先生说：“我们对本次项目的成功以及成果表示期待，但中国也有句古话‘千里之行始于足下’。” 他随即谈到了集团的灵活模式确保了本次项目良好的财务状况。“我们在动工前将预售这些别墅。根据我们多年的经验分析，我们对这次项目充满了信心。”
东渡在新斯科舍省投资计划不局限于旅游基地的打造 。东渡国际集团与新斯科舍省都非常看重本次合作计划，其将推动新省的经济格局的转变。如此长远性的合作也将成为连接中加两国文化的重要纽带。
邓普西先生认为，原生态的自然环境是新省吸引中国商业人士投资的理由之一。东渡计划向新省引进一系列的科技公司。
“这里将为科技发展的前沿阵地。虽然现在仍在筹划阶段，但是我们已经有了这样的战略目标。” 邓普西希望看到中国的科技企业与新省的科技产业互利合作。“我们深深了解，一旦这些企业被引入，他们需要办公场所，这正是我们能够为其提供的; 他们需要宿舍，需要有住的地方，而我们也能够为他们建造；他们需要出口市场的支持，而我们拥有这一系列的相关资源。”
GHP的总裁兼首席执行官保罗.肯特先生表示，本次开发项目将推进新省的前进。“我们把哈利法克斯市也提上了发展的议程，其中包括翻新和重建巴林顿大街(Barrington)的一座商务会所。”
肯特先生给予这样的评价：“这次合作项目会为哈法市中心带来改变，也会为盖斯伯勒县城中心带来影响。它将打造一个更有活力的东岸，同时也将推动新省其他地区的发展步伐。”
这项开发计划也面临着一系列挑战。邓普西和肯特双双透露，挑战包括新省劳动力的西迁，以及语言和文化冲突的应对。
邓普西指出：“如我们所知，这里的许多劳动力都已经或正在计划前往阿尔伯塔和其他的西部省份，去满足他们当地的劳动需求。这对本省的一些特定专业和行业无疑是种挑战。但是，我们将与相关部门共同努力，解决劳动力短缺的问题。”
“随着中国投资商陆续到来，普通话的使用者将越来越频繁地出现。双方的交流，特别是我方的回应，显得格外重要。”肯特表示，他的团队将于今秋进行中文培训。“我们将学习增加对中国的了解，成为更好的东道主。”
东渡的开发计划才刚起草时，邓普西与肯特就已对此项目持有乐观态度，他们认为该项目将为新省带来崭新的面貌，越来越多的投资者也将会前往新省。
肯特表示：“这是很好的第一步,我想它将有很好的推动效应。”
“这是第一个但绝不会是唯一的中国投资商。” 邓普西认为：“我相信许多有实力的科技企业将会把新产品、新设计带来到新省。我们的企业将有机会与这些外来企业合作、创新。对我们来说，这将会是绝好的发展平台。” (完）
For Dongdu International, investing in Nova Scotia is a slow-yet-steady race they plan to win in the long run.
This past May, the Shanghai investment company Dongdu International, or DDI, signed a memorandum of understanding with Nova Scotia Business Inc. and the Greater Halifax Partnership, marking the official beginning of a long-term, multi-phase development plan to bring more Chinese tourism to the shores of Nova Scotia.
Since then, DDI has been hard at work undergoing market testing in China, completing design concepts, and conducting detailed survey work in Guysborough county, where the company will be constructing two luxury resorts – one in Sherbrook, another in Saint Joseph – aimed primarily at jet-setting Chinese business professionals.
“The first project that will get underway, and we’re working on right now, is the project at the site that we call Henry Huxsford. That’s the one at Saint Joseph,” says Stephen Dempsey, DDI’s spokesperson and advisor in Nova Scotia. “You can appreciate that, for a project that may contain up to 300 to 500 villas, it’s quite enough just to get the physical engineering components of the project underway. We’re working on those right now.”
With 1,200 hectares of forested Guysborough County land that DDI has to work with, Dempsey says the plan is not to develop all of that property at once. Instead, they plan to build the villas, designed with the Chinese market in mind, in stages that meet demand. They hope to have 50 to 100 villas ready by the next summer season.
“We’re fully expecting to see great success, and many hundreds of dwellings on our sites, but as the old Chinese saying goes, ‘a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step,’” says Dempsey, who says their flexible model will ensure the project’s financial success. “And our development begins with the first villa sold on site. From the market analysis that we’ve done, we don’t think there’s any problem in starting out at that level.”
DDI’s investment in the province goes beyond just building vacation resorts. Both DDI and its partners in Nova Scotia see this project as a catalyst that could affect a big change in the economic landscape of Nova Scotia, and engender a strong bond between our two cultures in profound and far-reaching ways down the road.
By appealing to business professionals from China looking to own foreign property in a pristine natural landscape like ours in Nova Scotia, Dempsey says DDI plans to attract technology companies to the region in the long run.
“This is really sort of a beachhead frontier kind of opportunity for technology. While that’s at the earlier stages, it’s also part of our plan,” says Dempsey, who would like to see Chinese tech companies mingle with our own technology base. “We understand that, as those companies are attracted and come here, they need offices; we know how to build offices. They need residences, places to live; we know how to build those. They need support to export markets; we know how to access those.”
“We’re certainly tuned into the Halifax agenda, which includes refurbishing and redeveloping a building on Barrington Street for a business club,” says Paul Kent, president and CEO of Greater Halifax Partnership, who says this development project has the potential to affect all of Nova Scotia for the better.
“It has an impact in the urban core of Halifax. It has an impact in the rural heartland of Guysborough County. It’s going to create an eastern shore that’s way more alive than it has ever been, and it raises the possibility of enlivening other parts of the province at the same time,” says Kent.
Some of the challenges ahead, according to Dempsey and Kent, include the question of Nova Scotia’s labour in the wake of skilled workers traveling west, and preparing for possible language and cultural barriers that might arise.
“There’s a lot of labour, as we know, that has gone to Alberta and other places out west to meet demand there. That, to a certain degree, has challenged certain skills and trades,” says Dempsey. “We’ll be working with the appropriate associations to make sure that we don’t have any shortfalls there.”
“The reality of a significant Chinese investment in Nova Scotia involving a lot of people is that we are going to be encountering people that speak Mandarin quite frequently. Our response to that is critical,” says Kent, whose team will be taking advantage of Mandarin training this fall. “We’ll certainly be stepping up our interest in all things China, so that we can be the kind of host for this kind of business that’s necessary.”
While DDI’s development project is still taking baby steps, Dempsey and Kent are optimistic that this project will prove to be very transformative for Nova Scotia in a lot of new and exciting ways, and just the first in a long line of Chinese investments to come.
“It’s a very good first step,” says Kent. “I think it should be a catalyst for action.”
“This won’t be the only company – it’s just the first,” says Dempsey. “I think we’re going to see some really interesting technology companies emerge. New products, new designs. We have a wonderful opportunity to be brutally innovative, in supporting all of that.” (End)
