Chapter 851: Trip to the Middle East

The entire project will not be completed until the millennium.

At present, shipping all flows into the sea along the original river channel.

But every year, a considerable amount of river crossing fees must be paid to others.

Naturally, not everyone is satisfied with this project. After all, if it is completed, the downstream will lose tens of millions of dollars in river crossing fees every year.

More importantly, it is the strategic aspect.

Then Liu Tao inspected the China-Laos-Cambodia Railway. This railway is under construction in full swing, but it will take a millennium to be completed and opened to traffic.

The China-Laos-Cambodia Railway is a mixed passenger and freight railway with an initial operating speed of 60 kilometers per hour. Later, the speed will be gradually increased to 160 kilometers per hour. This speed-up process will go through four stages, and the final speed of 160 kilometers per hour will be reached in 2010.

It will take several years for the China-Laos-Cambodia Railway to be completed and opened to traffic, but the China-Laos-Cambodia Highway has already been opened to traffic.

With the China-Laos-Cambodia Highway as the core, roads in Laos and Cambodia are constantly joining the China-Laos-Cambodia Highway. It is precisely because of these roads that Laos and Cambodia have developed rapidly in recent years.

After inspecting Cambodia and Laos for three days, Liu Tao returned to the warship in a "Ray Eagle" helicopter.

During these three days, the 818-type electronic reconnaissance ship has cooperated with the reconnaissance satellite to mark every valuable target.

Leaving the Gulf of Thailand, passing through the Strait of Malacca, without staying in the Strait of Malacca for a long time, and then arriving on the Thai side of the Andaman Strait.

Here, the Kra Canal is under construction.

There is no need for cofferdams, just excavation, and the soil is continuously transported to the earth-carrying ships through conveyor belts. These earth-carrying ships will then transport the soil to the Xiangjiang River for land reclamation projects.

Thailand sent a division to protect the smooth construction of the project in the surrounding area.

The entire Kra Canal adopts a two-way channel, with a width of 400 kilometers and a water depth of 25 meters. The entire construction period is 10 years.

When the Kra Canal is put into operation, it will be enough to meet the needs of 400,000-ton cargo ships passing through the Kra Canal.

As for 500,000-ton cargo ships, there is no way to pass through the Kra Canal, and they have to continue to pass through the Strait of Malacca.

This canal has great development potential because it shortens the voyage by 1,200 kilometers and can save 2 to 5 days of shipping time. For a 100,000-ton tanker, it can save $350,000 in freight per trip, which will relieve a lot of shipping costs and time costs for logistics and freight in ASEAN and East Asia.

After inspecting the Kra Canal, although it encountered some difficulties, it did not hinder the continued construction of the project, so Liu Tao was relieved.

Panshan Group has invested a lot of real money in this project.

That is to say, here in Thailand, if it were in China, it would not take 10 years, at most 5 years to open.

After inspecting the Kra Canal, meeting some old friends in Thailand, and tasting Thai food, Liu Tao left Thailand.

Instead of going to the South Asian subcontinent, he went directly to the Arabian Sea. The warships belonging to Pakistan were separated from the escort formation here and belonged to Pakistan.

It won't be long before the Pakistani navy will be greatly strengthened and surpass its old rivals.

Then, they arrived at the Persian Gulf. At this time, the warships following the escort formation left and returned to their own countries.

Liu Tao's first stop was to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

When he arrived in Saudi Arabia, Liu Tao knew what a rich person was. All kinds of cars can be seen everywhere on the road, including various types of Chinese cars and European luxury cars, such as Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Rolls-Royce, etc., which can be seen everywhere.

The Saudi royal palace is very luxurious. Chocolates are placed in exquisite bowls, flowers are placed on each coffee table, and there is a golden clock the size of a wardrobe. There are satin decorations, crystal chandeliers, oriental carpets, luxurious sofas, etc. in the palace, and the portrait of the king is hung on the wall.

Liu Tao secretly envied that the Saudi royal family is really luxurious and enviable.

Now when the world talks about rich families, they often think of the Saudi royal family immediately. There are two or three thousand people in the Saudi royal family, and everyone lives a luxurious life.

Even if the princes and princesses of the Saudi royal family come to China, they are also luxurious.

Even though the international crude oil price is below $25, the Saudi royal family still lives a luxurious life.

It can't be said to be good, it can only be called 'luxury'!

Liu Tao came to the Middle East for the first time, and was warmly welcomed in Saudi Arabia for the first time.

Prince Sultan personally went to the port to greet him. The car he took was not a limited edition Rolls-Royce, but a Huaxia Automobile luxury car, which was obviously specially considered.

When he arrived at the palace, King Fahd personally went to the palace gate to welcome Liu Tao's arrival with a very enthusiastic attitude.

After more than ten years of cooperation with Panshan Group, Saudi Arabia has greatly improved its military strength and political status.

Now the Saudi Army has replaced the Iraqi Army and become the first army in the Arab world. Saudi Arabia's Air Force is also the first air force in the Arab world. Saudi Arabia's navy is already the overlord of the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Aden.

Saudi Arabia is the leader in the entire Arab League, the OPEC patriarch, and the Arab coalition.

Of course, Saudi Arabia is not interested in unifying the Arab world. What Saudi Arabia advocates is that everyone achieve integration, learn from the European Union, and the Arab world unite to produce oil, make some money, and live a good life.

While the oil resources are not exhausted, we should start from selling oil now, build petrochemical industry, export finished oil, asphalt, fertilizer, etc. in the future. It would be best if we can seize the opportunity and realize industrialization.

King Fahd specially held a palace dinner. The luxury of the palace dinner amazed Liu Tao, who was not interested in delicacies, because it was too luxurious.

Steak is the best part of the best cow.

Mutton is the best lamb.

Wine is the best red wine and the best white wine.

Even here, Liu Tao can see Maotai, Fenjiu and Wuliangye, which are almost invisible in the market, and they are all styles from ten years ago.

Obviously, King Fahd arranged it carefully.

When he saw the Saudi royal family and princesses, Liu Tao secretly sighed that reincarnation is really a technical job. If he reincarnates into the Saudi royal family, he will surpass 99.99% of the people in the world.

If you become a Saudi prince, you don't have to worry about lack of money. The monthly pocket money is enough to live a very comfortable life. If you have a higher status, you can own luxury cars and private jets. If you have a high status, you will be very generous and say you want to buy Buckingham Palace when you see it.

If you become a Saudi princess, you only need to do three things in life, travel around the world, shop wantonly, and elope.

Last year, a princess of the Saudi royal family traveled to Paris. She only needed to stay in one room, but her entourage had to stay in more than 40 rooms. In the end, she only stayed for a few days, but the princess spent more than 7 million US dollars on hotels alone, and spent more than 20 million US dollars on crazy shopping in a few days.

This incident shocked the whole of Europe.