Chapter 1492 Zambezi River Reconstruction Project
"Civilized world" was not a good term in the early 20th century. The three major groups of Europe, the United States and East Africa all claimed to be the "civilized world" but did nothing about it. Of course, other countries and regional forces may not be of noble character. If they had the strength, they might even act more recklessly than the three major groups.
A typical example is India. After its independence, India perfectly inherited the British legacy and loved to bully the strong in the region. However, India inherited the British arrogance but not the British cunning and rationality, which led to frequent ugly behaviors in the international community.
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April 5, 1930.
Rhine City, East Africa Water Resources Department.
In recent months, the Ministry of Water Resources has been very busy because during the Seventh Five-Year Plan period, after it was decided to build large-scale water conservancy projects, many pending projects were turned over, evaluated, and finally selectively implemented. One of the most eye-catching projects is the Zambezi River navigation transformation plan.
Even Crown Prince Friedrich went to the Minister of Water Resources in person to supervise the work and met with Minister Bach and others.
In the conference room, a huge map of the Zambezi River Basin was hung on the wall, outlining in detail the distribution of the Zambezi River and its tributaries, regional topography, precipitation, and other conditions.
Crown Prince Friedrich sat at the head of the group and told the officials and experts from the Ministry of Water Resources: "The Zambezi River is the river that has the greatest influence on the economic structure of the empire. From its estuary, Xinde, to the Tete industrial base, and then to Bohemia and the Central Industrial Zone, the coast is almost the most densely populated, agricultural and industrial place in the empire."
"Moreover, the Zambezi River is the only one of the four major rivers in East Africa that is entirely located within the Empire. Therefore, the management of the Zambezi River is of great significance to the Empire. This is something that even the Congo River cannot compare to."
The so-called four major rivers in East Africa generally refer to the Zambezi River, the Congo River, the Nile River and the Orange River. The lengths of these four rivers are all over 2,000 kilometers.
There are only five rivers in the entire African continent that are more than 2,000 kilometers long, namely the Nile River at more than 6,600 kilometers, the Congo River at more than 4,700 kilometers, the Niger River at more than 4,100 kilometers, the Zambezi River at more than 2,500 kilometers, and the Orange River at about 2,200 kilometers.
Except for the Niger River, the other four rivers are all related to East Africa. The Zambezi River belongs entirely to East Africa. Most of the Congo River is located in East Africa, with only a few tributaries in the Belgian Congo colony. Most of the Nile River is located in East Africa, and the Orange River is the boundary river shared by East Africa and South Africa.
Therefore, only the Zambezi River and the Congo River are basically under the control of East Africa. Although some tributaries of the Congo River are in the Belgian Congo colony, they can be completely ignored. In addition, the Belgian Congo colony itself is also affected by East African policies, so there is no big problem in considering the Congo River as belonging to East Africa.
The Congo River is also the river with the best shipping conditions in East Africa. Unfortunately, it is not located in the economically and densely populated areas of East Africa. If the Congo River and the Zambezi River could be exchanged, the East African government would probably have taken action against the Congo River in the last century.
Even if there are waterfalls in the lower reaches of the Congo River, East Africa will try every means to avoid them. Unfortunately, the reality is that the Congo River basin accounts for too small a proportion of the East African economy, and it is not worth the East African government's investment at all costs.
Although the conditions of the Zambezi River are slightly worse, due to its advantageous location, the East African government is willing to invest even if the construction cost is higher.
Crown Prince Friedrich said: "The Zambezi River is over 2,500 kilometers long, and its runoff ranks third in the empire, after the Congo River and the Ogowe River."
The Ogowe River is a river that mainly flows through the Gabon Province in East Africa. It is not very well-known, but its water volume ranks third among African rivers, second only to the Congo River and the Niger River.
The length of this river is over 1,200 kilometers, but because it flows through a tropical rainforest area, the water volume is very huge, with an average annual runoff of 4,700 cubic meters per second. The Zambezi River, the fourth largest river in Africa, has an average annual runoff of only 3,500 cubic meters per second.
Of course, this does not prevent the East African government from not paying enough attention to the Ogowe River. After all, it is basically the same as the Congo River. The banks of the river do not have much economic value and are not worth high investment.
Friedrich continued: "The Zambezi has a relatively balanced length and water volume, but its main disadvantages are large seasonal variations and complex topographical conditions in the area through which the river flows."
"However, these two problems can be overcome through large-scale water conservancy projects, such as the Cahora Bassa Reservoir, the Kariba Reservoir, the Kafue Reservoir and other large-scale reservoir projects, to regulate the water volume in the Zambezi River basin, so that the water volume of the entire river tends to be stable, thereby ensuring water for shipping, industry and domestic use, and ensuring agricultural production along the coast regardless of drought or flood, etc."
"At the same time, we can learn from the experience of the Panama Canal and build large locks to greatly improve the navigation capacity of the entire basin, so that the Zambezi River can completely become the main artery of the East African economy and become a golden waterway that will greatly benefit the empire's economy."
The Panama Canal locks are capable of accommodating 10,000-ton ships, which is also what East Africa expects for Zambezi River shipping. Therefore, Crown Prince Friedrich emphasized this point.
He said: "Our mid-term goal for the Zambezi River is to be able to connect the entire 1,200-kilometer Zambezi River below the King's Falls (Victoria Falls), and to enable 10,000-ton ships to reach the Hohenzollern Province (now the southwest of Zambezi) from Hinde."
“Thereby forming a core economic belt connecting industrial cities such as Shinde, Tete and Lusaka, and eventually connecting important cities and industrial areas such as Rhine, Mbeya and Harare through tributaries, greatly reducing the industrial and shipping logistics costs in the central inland areas.”
There are medium-term goals, naturally short-term goals and long-term goals. The short-term goal is to build the Cahora Bassa Reservoir to achieve full navigation of nearly 600 kilometers of river channels in the downstream area. The long-term goal is to target the entire Zambezi River Basin, including the Lake Malawi Basin, thereby driving the development of cities, transportation and economy in the region.
The short-term goal is easy to achieve. The East African government had already begun planning the construction of the Cahora Bassa Dam decades ago. A few years ago, it was put on the list of national key engineering projects and only needed Ernst's final approval before construction could officially begin.
Therefore, there is no doubt that during the "Seventh Five-Year Plan" period, the construction of the Cahora Bassa Reservoir will become one of the representative projects of East African countries. Once completed, this reservoir will directly become the world's second largest artificial reservoir, second only to the Fuxing Reservoir (Lake Victoria) that has already been built in East Africa. In addition, the Cahora Bassa Reservoir Hydropower Station will also become one of the largest hydropower stations in the world, with large ship locks that can accommodate at least 10,000-ton ships.
Crown Prince Friedrich said: "Minister Bach, next, you will report on the specific implementation steps and details of the Ministry of Water Resources' transformation of the Zambezi River."
Bach stood up, nodded to Friedrich, and walked to the map with a slender black wooden stick.
The giant map of the Zambezi River Basin is very bright and clear under the light from behind, and everyone can clearly see the details on it.
Bach pointed the stick to a location a little west of Tete and said, "This is the Cahora Bassa Canyon. We can clearly see that this red mark is its exact location."
"The Zambezi River from Kinde to Tete is fully connected. Since the beginning of this century, we have never stopped managing the Zambezi River Basin, especially the lower reaches. After large-scale renovations, including dredging and straightening, it is now completely navigable for 10,000-ton ships. This has greatly strengthened the development of towns in the lower reaches, especially Tete, which is located in the interior. It has become an important industrial base of the empire, and freight rates have been greatly reduced."
"However, the natural barrier of the Cabora Bassa Gorge separates the lower and middle reaches of the Zambezi River, making it impossible for ships in the middle and upper reaches of the Zambezi River to contact or travel between them."
"This also means that the heartland of the empire, as well as the Bohemian industrial zone, can only participate in world trade through land transportation such as railways. Although we built the Central Canal at the beginning of this century, its navigability is far from meeting the transportation of bulk goods."
"Many artificial waterways are limited by the technology level of more than 20 years ago and can only accommodate small boats of several hundred tons. This has greatly weakened the competitiveness of the Central Canal and made it unable to compete with railways and roads."
"If we can make use of the Zambezi River, a natural river, we can build an excellent waterway from the coast of East Africa to the inland, similar to the Danube or the Rhine."
"Combined with the Zambezi River Estuary Management Project and the Hinde Port Reconstruction Project, East African 10,000-ton cargo ships will be able to directly reach the river and the sea, connect to the Indian Ocean, and drive the development of inland areas."
"Therefore, the most important goal of the long-term plan for the Zambezi River formulated by our Ministry of Water Resources is to achieve navigation on the entire Zambezi River below the King's Falls."
As for the area above the King's Falls, there is basically not much shipping demand in East Africa, because there are basically not many East African population, towns and industries in the upper reaches of the Zambezi River. Therefore, East Africa's main plan for the upper reaches of the river is to build a number of large reservoirs to strengthen the development of upstream hydropower and regulate the water volume in the entire Zambezi River basin.
Minister Bach said: "In order to open up the middle and lower reaches of the Zambezi River, experts and technicians from all over the Ministry of Water Resources aim to completely connect the middle and lower reaches through the construction of three large projects such as the Cahora Bassa Reservoir."
"These large-scale water conservancy projects will be equipped with corresponding giant ship locks to ensure that the shipping capacity from Shinde City to Lusaka is increased to 10,000 tons, and the section from Batoka Gorge to Lusaka can accommodate ships of more than 2,000 tons."
The Zambezi River mainstream shipping that East Africa is eyeing is actually the Zambezi River mainstream waterway between Lusaka and Chende, which is nearly 1,000 kilometers long.
And through tributaries such as the Kafue River, important cities including Rhineland, Harare, Mbeya and others will eventually be connected to this mainstream waterway.
Bach said: "After achieving the basic grand goal of navigating the middle and lower reaches of the Zambezi River, we will focus on building navigation on rivers including the Kafue River, the Hunyani River, the Shire River, etc., so as to cover most of the central region."
The central city along the Kafue River is Lusaka, but it connects important cities in East Africa such as New Frankfurt, Kitwe, and Rhine City through the East African artificial canal. Therefore, it is of great significance to East Africa, especially in further enhancing the shipping capacity of Rhine City, the seat of the East African government.
The Hunyani River is an important tributary on the south side of the Zambezi River. This river mainly flows through the Bohemia Industrial Zone (Zimbabwe) in East Africa. Bohemia is the most important industrial zone in central East Africa, so its importance is self-evident.
Finally, there is the Shire River. The Shire River is a river between Lake Malawi and the Zambezi River. It is also the outlet of Lake Malawi. If this waterway can be opened, the cities in the Lake Malawi basin will be able to go to the sea with the help of Zambezi River shipping in the future.
The Zambezi River, the Kafue River, the Hunyani River and the Shire River form a "one trunk and three branches" shipping pattern, which will completely solve the problem of access to the sea for the inland areas of central East Africa.
This shows how ambitious the East African government is this time. Among these projects, the simplest is navigation on the main stream of the Zambezi River, and the most difficult is the reconstruction of the Shire River.
Moreover, it will consume a huge amount of manpower, material and financial resources. However, in the eyes of the East African government, this is not a losing business. As long as the "one trunk and three branches" route can be connected, the problem of insufficient shipping capacity in East Africa, which has been criticized in the past, will be completely solved. East Africa will also have a shipping waterway that will greatly promote the East African economy. Moreover, now is the best time to implement such a huge project during the world economic crisis.
Of course, East Africa is not greedy for quick success or reckless advances. After all, the issue of the transformation and management of the Zambezi River has received attention from the East African government since the last century. In order to achieve this goal, the East African government has laid the groundwork and made efforts for decades, conducted detailed surveys of the hydrological and geological conditions of the entire Zambezi River basin, and conducted repeated research and demonstrations.
In addition to the strong infrastructure capabilities of East Africa, the world's largest industrial power, it also has the world's largest group of water conservancy experts and engineers, a large number of workers, and rich experience in water conservancy construction.
This means that East Africa is fully capable of implementing the Zambezi River reconstruction project, and it will not have major flaws like those Soviet projects.
The long-standing ideal of the entire East African nation to transform the Zambezi River has become an obsession, just like the Far Eastern Empire's desire to transform the Yellow River. Therefore, the Zambezi River transformation project is not only a large-scale water conservancy system project that requires the efforts of the entire country, but has also risen to the level of East African national and ethnic spirit.
As long as this rare "miracle" project in human history can be completed, it will be of great significance for reshaping the national and ethnic spirit of East Africa, and become a collective memory similar to "Yu the Great's Flood Control" in the Far East Empire, and it will continue to encourage future generations of East African citizens from generation to generation.
(End of this chapter)
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