Mai Po, Port Run

Mai Po Special Industrial Area (Traditional Chinese: 米埔特別工業地區), sometimes simply as just Mai Po or coined as Mai Po Industrial Estate ("MPIE", Traditional Chinese: 米埔工業城) by the media, is a special industrial area (SIA) in the Royal Watersauga crown colony of Port Run. Located in the extreme southeast of the colony, Mai Po is a part of the principality of Madawaska.

Background
Port Run has experienced rapid economic growth beginning in the 1990s, and has since evolved into a major national or even an international port and a manufacturing centre. This had attracted many foreign industries, including companies from the kingdom, and international firms, to invest in the colony. One of the major trading partners with Port Run is Cosmoplay Region. In particular, Port Run has become the largest trading partner of Mainland Cosmoplay within the Imaginary Lands of Nicholas as of 2012, totalling to some $1257 million dollars in 2012 alone.

To deepen this trade relationship, the Regional Municipality of Cosmoplay has arranged to sign the Port Run - Mainland Cosmoplay Closer Economic Partnership Agreement and Memorandum, 2013 (Traditional Chinese: 第一港與天宇大陸更緊密經貿關係備忘錄) in late 2012. Under a part of the agreement, Port Run were to build a 3 km² industrial estate near Port Run's southwest border, exclusively for Mainland Cosmoplay's businesses to set up headquarters and manufacturing plants. The sovereignty of the land where the companies are based on belongs to the City of Watersauga (though the memorandum says "Port Run" instead of Watersauga due to the Cosmoplay-Watersauga conflicts). That is, Port Run laws apply in the industrial estate. The companies may hire labour from both Port Run and Cosmoplay Region, while paying a significantly lower tax rate to Port Run. Export taxes to Cosmoplay are waived. The organization of the industrial estate is somewhat similar to Kaesong Industrial Park (Korean Hanja: 開城) of North Korea and the ShenZhen Special Economic Zone (Traditional Chinese: 深圳經濟特區) of the People's Republic of China.

The Secretary of the Development Bureau of Port Run (DEVB) and the Trade Development Council of Port Run (TDC), along with representatives of Cosmoplay Region held a groundbreaking ceremony at a site just off Mai Po Road, inside the closed area of Port Run on 3 January 2013. The construction of office buildings and manufacturing plants began the following day. Constructions mostly completed in late March 2013, followed by occupation shortly after.

Current description
As of early May 2013, over 57 companies providing 953 jobs are running in the industrial estate. The 57 companies occupy some 20 office buildings and manufacturing plants. With the parking lot, the industrial estate occupies 2.43 km² as of an estimate on 30 April 2013 by Port Run officials. There are still remaining land allocated, and it is projected more companies will move into the industrial estate due to the attractiveness of the industrial estate.

Currently, the Madawaska Station provides train service to the area. Colonial Highway 2 (Madawaska Highway) is also providing road access to the industrial area.

Future prospects
In a case of a success, Port Run and Cosmoplay unanimously noted that they will expand the project to other areas in the closed area and/or expand the current Mai Po SIE. Cosmoplay Region officials also state that they are interested in setting up a similar scheme within the borders of mainland Cosmoplay for Port Run businesses, namely the Kaijo Special Economic Zone, beginning in mid-2013. It will be in a scale larger than Mai Po as Cosmoplay has more land to spare.

Port Run is also planning to construct the Madawaska East New Town just north of Mai Po as a supporting city (Traditional Chinese: 支援城市) to the special industrial estate. It will serve as a welcoming gate to incoming tourists from Cosmoplay Region via Colonial Highway 2.

To accomodate future traffic growth and to make commuting easier for Lai Hoi and Wanikit residents, a new Colonial Highway 7 (Southeast Road) is currently in planning stages and under constructions, connecting the industrial area from South State via Lai Hoi and Wanikit.

Criticism


While the industrial park has been a great success and a very attractive scheme for Cosmoplay businesses to invest in, the industrial estate has received a somewhat high level of criticism, primarily from Port Run citizens. They claim that Port Run government officials are ceding land and resources to Cosmoplay with no apparent advantages. Port Run environmentalists are also worrying that the industrial park will bring increased pollution to the predominantly rural area. Protestors claim that this is an "evil scheme" of the Cosmoplay Overseas Collectivity Unification Department (Traditional Chinese: 天宇海外屬地統一部), and they claim that Port Run officials are cooperating with Mainland Cosmoplay to "cede land and sell Port Run" (Traditional Chinese: 割地賣港).

Prior to the construction of the park, over 2,500 Port Run citizens marched to the Royal Watersauga Crown Colony Port Run colonial offices to protest the construction of the industrial estate in late December 2012. Another 150 environmentalists also marched to the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) office of Port Run, handing a signed letter from some 700 Port Runners in regards to concerns about pollution with the new proposed industrial park. Port Run government officials responded to the citizens' voices somewhat, by reassuring that the industrial park will ensure the two political systems (Traditional Chinese: 兩制) be strictly enforced in the new industrial park, and that the industrial park follows modern industrialization standards so that no excessive pollution will be produced.

Nonetheless, not all Port Runners will settle for the deal. On 4 January 2013, one day after the groundbreaking ceremony, a group of 11 university students took on a 31-km march from Capitol City to the Mai Po site, and went on fasting as a protest to the industrial park. One student, 23, lasted for 56 hours, before having to be hospitalized and ultimately ended the protest. Port Run officials claim that they will hear and observe citizens' actual needs, and that no extreme measures should even be taken.

In February 2013, intermittent small-scale protests regarding to the industrial park occurred in Port Run as well as in Ottawa - Gatineau, Watersauga (capital city of Port Run's suzerain, the city-state of Watersauga) and Old Watersauga (the largest city within the city-state of Watersauga). The constructions went on nonetheless.

Cosmoplay citizens, on the other hand, mostly welcomed the industrial park's establishment with minimal protests. Most are referring to the industrial park as a sign of increasing friendship between the two government bodies, as reported by the Cosmoplay Gazette.