Located in the R&D and production base of Batie project in Zhoukou, Henan Province, there is no sign of construction in the project with an investment of 10 billion yuan. The once declared "the first Batie rolled off the assembly line in 2017" is still a question mark.
▲ On August 2nd, the comprehensive test of Batie No.1 test vehicle was launched in Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province, which triggered public doubts.
The road occupation test caused three major doubts. Lawyers said that fundraising was suspected of misleading and cheating.
Recently, "Batie" has been questioned by public opinion after being tested in Beidaihe District, Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province. There are three main questions: whether the project is approved by the government, whether the fund raising is legal and whether the technology is feasible. The reporter visited the Batie test site and interviewed relevant persons of Batie Technology Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Batie Technology) and relevant government departments.
Is private placement illegal?
"The fundraising during the trial period is suspected of fraud"
According to media reports, Huaying Group Co., Ltd., Beijing Huaying Gloria Asset Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Huaying Gloria), Batie Technology and China Construction Enterprise United Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Zhongjianlian) are all related to Bai Zhiming, and their relationship is complicated. It is suspected that they are involved in improper use of funds.
According to media reports, it is not clear whether the "Batie" project can land, and it has already sold wealth management projects to raise funds, suspecting that it is suspected of illegal fund-raising. Bi Danlong, the legal director of Batie Science and Technology, said that the company’s funds are mainly funded by shareholders and raised by private equity funds. Bai Zhiming said that he is the chairman of Huaying Group and Huaying Gloria, the latter is a subsidiary of the former. Huaying Group purchased Song Youzhou’s Batie technology patent and established Batie Technology; Bai Zhiming is a shareholder and supervisor of Batie Technology, and has not held the position of chairman. China Construction Union is the independent guarantor of Huaying Gloria. Bai Zhiming said that the "Batie" project raised a total of 104.7 million yuan. Among them, Bai Zhiming, as a shareholder, invested 40 million yuan and entrusted Beijing Tianer Investment Fund Management Co., Ltd. to issue two private equity funds, aiming at people with investment ability and anti-risk ability, with 1 million investments and annualized income of 12%. The first phase raised 22.8 million, and the second phase raised 41.9 million. The use of funds is the expenses of more than 100 people in Batie Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd. and the expenses of vehicle manufacturing and road construction in the early stage.
According to the reporter’s inquiry on asset management association of china website, all the fund update information managed by Beijing Tianer Investment Fund Management Co., Ltd. was in January this year, and the status was "in operation".
The reporter saw on the website of the Ministry of Civil Affairs that in the fourth batch of "offshore associations" and "cottage associations" published by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, "China Construction Enterprise Federation" was among them, and Bai Zhiming had previously served as the president of the association. The reporter called the "Director’s Mailbox" of the Beijing Financial Work Bureau. The staff who answered the phone said that the blacklist of cracking down on illegal fund-raising had not been publicized, and it was impossible to judge whether Huaying Gloria was suspected of illegal fund-raising. Li Hongji, a partner of Beijing Tongshang Law Firm, said that the irrationality of fundraising for the "Batie" project is that the project is still in the experimental period and far from application. Under such circumstances, it is misleading and deceptive to raise funds and promise an annualized rate of return of 12%. However, it is necessary to analyze the use of private equity funds whether there is cheating, which is naturally unknown to outsiders. Gu Liaohai, a partner of Beijing Liaohai Law Firm, said that among the enterprises around Batie, many companies are related to the same person. Although there is no clear violation of the law, it will cause the risk of related party transactions and need to attract the attention of investors and regulators.
Is the project approved by the government?
"We have a framework agreement with the government"
According to media reports, the relevant departments in Qinhuangdao City and Beidaihe District do not understand the "Batie" project. Bai Zhiming, a supervisor and shareholder of Batie Technology, told Xinhua that the local government in Hebei knew about this matter: "We have a signing intention and a framework agreement with the government." Li yani, assistant to the chairman of Batie Technology, told the reporter that the company signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Qinhuangdao Municipal Government and a project cooperation agreement with the Beidaihe District Government. The content was to set up an experimental line of 1 km in Beidaihe, but it was adjusted to 300 meters because of unsatisfactory road conditions. The agreement also includes the construction of a 10-kilometer demonstration line, and the subsequent 120-kilometer line is also under planning.
The reporter contacted the Propaganda Department of Qinhuangdao Municipal Committee and the Propaganda Department of Beidaihe District on reaching an agreement with Batie Company. Subsequently, the staff of Beidaihe News Center contacted the reporter and said that they were entrusted by the Propaganda Department of Qinhuangdao Municipal Committee to reply by email. According to the mail, Qinhuangdao has been trying to solve the traffic congestion problem because of its dense traffic during the tourist season. In April this year, the Qinhuangdao Municipal People’s Government signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Batie Technology to build a research and development center for Batie project in Qinhuangdao. In July, Qinhuangdao Municipal Government and Batie Technology selected some sections of Fumin Road in Station Village of Beidaihe District as the "Batie" test line. Batie Technology mainly carries out track paving, temporary platform construction, model test vehicle assembly and trial operation, and temporary assembly warehouse construction. The cooperation period ends on August 31, 2016, and will be negotiated separately after the trial operation expires. During the cooperation period, the test line section of Fumin Road, Station Village, Beidaihe District will be provided to Batie Technology for free. After the trial operation period, according to the agreement, the company needs to repair the pavement as it is.
Is the technology feasible?
"It is difficult to achieve"
Some media believe that "Batie" has some problems, such as large volume, heavy weight, difficult turning, difficult escape for passengers, and oppressive feeling for vehicles passing by at the bottom. Cheng Shidong, director of the Urban Transportation Office of the Comprehensive Transportation Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that from a technical point of view, it is difficult to realize the concept of "Batie". First of all, "Batie" is heavy and has a high center of gravity, so it is easy to roll over. Secondly, "Batie" requires high road width. Even if the road surface is wide enough, "Batie" is limited by the height of the bridge. Thirdly, based on the width of the track, the turning radius of "Batie" is bound to be very large, and there are certain risks for vehicles under "Batie" to pass when turning. Fourthly, Batie is not suitable for most road intersections because of its large turning radius, which is of little significance in solving the traffic congestion problem at road intersections.
Visit Batie Henan R&D and Production Base
Billion projects are overgrown with weeds
The reporter visited the R&D and production base of Batie project in Zhoukou, Henan Province, and found that the project with a planned investment of 10 billion yuan showed no signs of construction, and the procedures such as land and environmental assessment were still incomplete. The once declared "the first Batie rolled off the assembly line in 2017" is still a question mark.
After the land acquisition, construction has never started.
On the side of a newly-built highway named Batie Avenue in Zhoukou Port Logistics Industry Cluster (hereinafter referred to as "Zhoukou Port Area"), hundreds of acres of land surrounded by white walls are overgrown with weeds, and stones are scattered in the grass. Some people are herding sheep to graze in the wall. In the middle area without weeds, a newly dug pit with a diameter of about 10 meters suddenly appeared, and several children were climbing up and down.
Residents of villagers’ groups around Sunzhuang, Wangzhuang and Shengying introduced that this area used to be a wheat field. This year, Tomb-Sweeping Day received a notice of land acquisition, and the villagers received a land compensation of 57,400 yuan for an acre of land. However, in the past few months, construction has never started.
Unsigned contract lays the foundation stone first.
In December 2015, Zhoukou Port signed a contract with China Huaying Group to cooperate with the Pakistani Railway Project. Zhao Wanjun, director of Zhoukou Port Management Committee, introduced that the total investment of the project is 10 billion yuan, with 300 mu of land for the first phase and more than 1,000 mu for the third phase, to build a Batie production and research base. According to the plan, the first Batie rolled off the assembly line in Zhoukou in 2017, with an annual output of 1,000 vehicles after normal production. "At present, the progress is a bit backward, the land listing time is not long, the environmental assessment has not been approved, and the procedures have not been completed." Du Guangxian, member of the Party Committee of Zhoukou Port Area, said. Zhoukou City Land Management Service Center introduced that on July 14th, a piece of state-owned construction land of about 281 mu in the port area was won by Batie Technology Development Co., Ltd., registered in Beijing. The map shows that the reporter saw the overgrown area. The transaction price was more than 42 million yuan, and a confirmation letter for the transaction of industrial land was signed. According to the online trading system of land and resources in Henan Province, Batie Technology Development Co., Ltd. paid a deposit of 21 million yuan on July 13th.
However, Xia Chao, a staff member of the Land Use Section of Zhoukou City Land and Resources Bureau, said that the land has not yet signed a transaction contract. According to the relevant regulations, industrial land should generally sign the transaction contract within 6 months after receiving the transaction confirmation, during which the procedures of project establishment and environmental assessment should be completed. "We don’t know if it is a Pakistani railway project." Xia Chao said that as a land use department, we only know who delisted when the other party signed the transaction contract. "According to our understanding, the groundbreaking ceremony cannot be held before the transaction contract is signed."
No patent certificate after cooperation
According to public reports, on July 19th, the foundation stone laying ceremony was held for the Batie Project in Zhoukou Port Area. Du Guangxian explained that at that time, in order to urge the project to advance. The reporter learned that at the end of 2013, a local person in Zhoukou found the port management Committee and said that there was a transportation project. The port area sent people to Beijing to inspect and met Song Youzhou, the inventor of Batie, and learned that he had obtained a national patent. In 2015, Song Youzhou informed the port area that Huaying Group bought out the patent, and since then, the two sides have started intensive cooperation, but until the strategic cooperation agreement was signed, the port area did not see the relevant patent certificate.
According to the plan of Batie Science and Technology Development Company, the project will start construction at the end of this year, and it can be officially put into production within one year, with an annual output value of 5 billion to 10 billion yuan, which can attract 1,000 to 2,000 people to work. The economic and social benefits are obvious, which is very attractive to the local government. Zhoukou Port Area was established in 2013, with an escrow area of more than 40 square kilometers. At present, Batie is the largest project.
This edition is based on Xinhua News Agency.