Chapter 1522 Water Conservancy Expert
The role played by Paraguay, Bolivia and Uruguay in the eyes of East Africa is like that of Japan and South Korea to the United States in the past. They are easy to control and can also contain Argentina and Brazil.
Bolivia and Paraguay can ensure that East Africa can monitor and manipulate the local situation in the hinterland of South America. The strategic significance of this is equivalent to the US military's occupation of Afghanistan in the previous life, thereby threatening the Far East Empire and the hinterland of Russia. Of course, the United States ultimately did not do this.
Uruguay can ensure the presence of the East African Navy on the east coast of South America, and together with Venezuela, one in the south and one in the north, monitor the entire east coast of South America.
These military deployments have basically established East Africa's strategic advantage in the entire South American region, and East Africa's military hegemony in the South Atlantic has been further consolidated.
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If conditions permit, East Africa actually wants to transform the Paraná River basin, especially the section between Porto Suarez and Porto Corumba, but this is obviously not possible during this period of time.
Firstly, the Paraná River is not a native river in East Africa, and it is impossible for East Africa to pay out of its own pocket to help South Americans dredge the river. Secondly, during this period, due to the economic crisis, South American countries did not have the money to fund East Africa to carry out the project. Finally, there were differences in interests.
Paraguay, Bolivia and Uruguay are still okay, but Argentina and Brazil are not very interested in the transformation of the Paraná River, so different countries have different attitudes towards the transformation of the Paraná River.
Mocha, an East African water conservancy expert, said at the port of Suarez: "The shipping potential of the Parana River is greater than that of all the rivers in the country combined. Its potential is on the same level as the Rhine, Danube, Yangtze River and Mississippi River. Unfortunately, it is an international river, and the economies and populations of the countries along the river are not wealthy, which greatly limits the development of shipping on the Parana River."
"With a little modification and dredging of the river, Suarez Port will be able to handle ships of 10,000 tons, and even in its current natural state, it can handle ships of several thousand tons."
"It's true that people get pissed off when compared to others, and goods get thrown away when compared to others. If we had a river like this in East Africa, I would wake up laughing in my dreams. What a waste!"
Between Puerto Suarez and Corumbá, there is a dozen kilometers of natural river channel that has not been modified and can easily accommodate ships of less than 3,000 tons. It is also a tributary of the Paraná River.
The Port of Corumba, which is less than 15 kilometers away from the Port of Suarez, can easily accommodate 5,000-ton merchant ships under natural conditions, and 10,000-ton ships during the rainy season.
It is no wonder that Mocha is so jealous of the navigability of the Parana River. The total length of the waterway between Suarez Port and the estuary is more than 2,200 kilometers, while the total length of the Zambezi River in East Africa is only more than 2,600 kilometers.
This is equivalent to the Zambezi River being almost navigable without artificial modification and dredging.
Mocha's assistant, Shilaide, also said with emotion: "It is hard to imagine that the South American countries have such a natural golden waterway but do not make good use of it. If the Parana River was located within the empire, there would be no need to go through the trouble of transforming the Zambezi River or digging an artificial canal."
"If such a river with outstanding shipping and irrigation capabilities were in China, the area would definitely become the most economically and agriculturally developed region in East Africa, and it is not impossible to even surpass the Rhine."
The Paraná River has extremely high shipping value and great potential, and the agricultural conditions in its basin are also among the best in the world.
The La Plata Plain through which it flows covers an area of about 1.5 million square kilometers, while the Far Eastern Empire's entire plain area is just over 1 million square kilometers, which is only surpassed by the Great Plains of North America and the Plains of East Europe.
Of course, what we are talking about here are the major plains that are suitable for agricultural development. Other plains such as the Amazon Plain and the Turan Plain are also large in area, but their usable area is low.
In terms of climate, the Paraná River Basin is mainly dominated by a subtropical monsoon humid climate. Although there are seasonal changes, the name suggests that the water and heat conditions in this area are better than those in the Far East Empire and the East European Plain.
Then there is soil fertility. The Paraná River Basin has rich black soil resources and its fertility is also considerable.
To sum up, the Great Plains of North America almost completely suppress the La Plata Plain in all data. The East European Plain is large in area, has no shortage of water, and has fertile soil, but its heat and light conditions are not as good as those of the La Plata Plain.
Mocha said to his assistant, Xilaid: "Forget it. The South American countries, especially the former Spanish and Portuguese colonies, are basically the same. We cannot speculate on their development based on common sense."
"After all, they really were like an empire, which had risen long before the 19th century, and we in East Africa had no chance at all."
"However, Spain and Portugal are indeed relatively weak in developing their economies and industries, which proves the fallacy of Eurocentrism. Even within Europe, there are huge differences in development."
Xilaid also agreed and said: "Without external pressure and support, it is basically difficult for these South American countries to achieve an economic miracle like the empire on their own."
"This may also be the advantages and disadvantages of South America's geographical location. It can be said that it is in the corner of the world. It is more isolated than North America and only slightly better than Oceania. Therefore, it is difficult to communicate frequently with other civilizations, but it is also relatively safe."
"Plus, the natural conditions are favorable and the population pressure is light, so there is no ambition and motivation to compete with other parts of the world, but isn't this an advantage for the locals?"
The geographical location of South America is indeed very remote. In comparison, although Africa is similar to South America in latitude, Africa is close to the Eurasian continent, and the three are even originally connected.
At the same time, the African continent is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, so it is very convenient to travel to many places.
After East Africa developed southern Africa, the connection and trade between Africa and other parts of the world became closer. In a sense, East Africa has become the center of the southern hemisphere economy, while being deeply involved in the northern hemisphere economy.
For example, the trade between South America and Oceania, and the trade between South America and Asia, can all be transited through East Africa. In addition, the African continent where East Africa is located is itself a continent with relatively outstanding conditions in terms of resources, population, economy, industry, and agriculture.
This in fact makes East Africa a new economic interaction center emerging in the world market.
There are currently only three such economic centers of the world market in the world. The first is naturally Europe, the second is Africa, and the last is North America.
North America and Africa are quite similar. Relying on the United States and East Africa respectively, they have raised their respective regions' status in the world market to a higher level.
However, the strong economic foundation accumulated by Europe in modern times will be difficult to be surpassed by the United States and East Africa in a short period of time.
Mocha didn't pay much attention to this aspect, so he brought the topic back to the field of hydrology.
"It is unrealistic for the current empire and the countries in the region to manage the entire Paraná River Basin, but it is necessary to manage the approximately 15 kilometers of waterway between Suarez Port and Corumba Port."
"By expanding the river channel to less than three meters through large inland dredging vessels, the ship tonnage of Suarez Port can be increased to the same level as Corumba Port, allowing ships of 5,000 tons to pass through."
"If we improve the berthing capacity of ships at the Port of Suarez, it will become a core node for Bolivia to connect with the Atlantic trade in the future."
"The population of Santa Cruz Province in Bolivia is small, so it is not practical to dredge the river manually. In this case, we can only use large mechanical ships to do this."
"Fortunately, the distance between Suarez Port and Corumba Port is short, and the geological conditions are not complicated. The riverbed is completely muddy, which is very convenient for large dredging vessels to operate. Pumping out the mud from the riverbed is not a large project, and the difficulty is relatively low, and it does not take much time."
His assistant, Shilaide, was not entirely optimistic about Mocha's idea. He said helplessly, "Mr. Mocha, your idea is entirely feasible, but I don't completely agree with it."
"First of all, it is difficult for local people to solve the problem of river dredging ships. There are only a handful of countries in the world that are capable of building them, and there is no country in South America. Although we in East Africa have the ability to build them, the price of a river dredging ship is not cheap, especially a large river dredging ship. Although my country has built some, most of them are invested in the management and maintenance of the Zambezi River and other rivers in the country."
"In other words, the current output cannot even meet our domestic demand, let alone transporting limited dredging ships from across the ocean to South America, and only to treat a mere 15 kilometers of the river."
"This is completely a waste of effort, and South American countries probably won't think of buying river dredging ships. The Parana River is an international river, and almost every country's management of the river is to take care of its own business and not to worry about other people's problems."
"Therefore, before the countries in the basin reach a consensus, they will not make great efforts to spend money to manage the various routes of the Paraná River, and we in East Africa will not pay for this part of the cost out of our own pockets."
"Therefore, I think it would be more cost-effective for the Bolivian government to pay for the dredging of the river between Puerto Suarez and Puerto Corumba and hire Brazilians and Paraguayans to do the manual dredging."
"Santa Cruz Province is sparsely populated and cannot afford this kind of project, but the populations of other neighboring countries are relatively large."
Brazil and Paraguay actually don't have a large population, but they have an advantage that Bolivia does not have. That is because of the existence of the Paraná River, and transportation to Port Suarez from the surrounding towns and villages is very convenient.
In this way, the recruitment scope can be expanded along the river, and then the personnel and materials for the construction of Port Suarez can be transported to Port Suarez through the Paraná River.
Although Mocha was not satisfied with the navigation capacity of Suarez Port, the navigation capacity of thousands of tons was already quite large. In the 21st century in his previous life, the first-class waterway of the Far East Empire was only at about this level.
In addition to the reason of transportation, Xilaid also mentioned one point, which is labor cost.
"Now, due to the economic crisis, there are many unemployed people in South American countries. For example, in places like Buenos Aires, the labor costs in their towns have also dropped significantly, resulting in a surplus, so they can achieve this by attracting workers with relatively low wages."
"Of course, the premise is that the imperial government supports us in doing this, and the Bolivian government is willing to pay for it. However, although Bolivia is in economic difficulties, they should still be able to afford such a small project."
The dredging of the channel from Port Suarez to Port Corumba is indeed a trivial project in the eyes of East Africans such as Shilaide and Mocha. After all, it is a mere 15 kilometers, which could be easily solved in East Africa, an agricultural society, in the last century. East Africa was even able to manually dig a canal of nearly 3,000 kilometers under extremely low productivity levels, which is unimaginable for South American countries.
Although there were some "small" flaws, that is, it consumed millions of black laborers, the people of East Africa did not just supervise the black people to work, but also mobilized millions of citizens to participate in the construction.
This powerful mobilization capability is also the biggest difference between East African and South American countries.
After listening to his assistant's analysis, Mocha suddenly realized that although dredging ships are efficient, the national conditions of the South American countries are different from those of East Africa.
He said to Xilaid: "You said it very well. Compared with my plan, your plan may be more easily adopted by the government. After all, the empire's most important project now is to help Bolivia build a railway. If the cost of river reconstruction is too high, then they probably won't consider investing in other projects at all."
The construction of the Asuncion-Lima railway is enough to put a heavy burden on the Bolivian economy, so it is indeed a bit unreasonable to ask the Bolivian government to fund other projects while the railway is being built.
However, this is not impossible, because in the construction of the Bolivian railway, East Africa is not entirely concerned with short-term economic benefits. Therefore, the construction cost quotation for this railway is not high, almost at cost price.
Of course, although East Africa built this railway at cost price, it does not mean that East Africa made less money. After the completion of this railway, it will be beneficial for East Africa to control Bolivia's mineral, agricultural and industrial fields, thereby gaining greater long-term benefits.
This also reflects the change in East Africa's strategy in colonizing South America. East Africa's approach to Southeast Asia, the Middle East, West Africa, and North Africa was completely different.
In East Africa's economic colonization activities in South America, it prefers to use both soft and hard tactics and seek mutual benefit. Although East Africa eats meat, it also gives the locals a sip of soup. This kind of economic colonization will also become the main form of expansion of East Africa's overseas power in the future.
After all, it was almost the middle of the 20th century, and with the awakening of nations and countries around the world, those crude and simple methods of colonial expansion were becoming less and less effective, and might even have a backfire effect.
This invisible economic colonization is reflected in Bolivia, where East Africa did not oppress the Bolivian government too much, and even forgave some of Bolivia's debts.
Therefore, the Bolivian government must still have some resources in its hands. As long as Mocha and others can convince the East African government to take back the waterway of Port Suarez, they may succeed.
Mocha said: "After we go back, we will write a detailed report and see what it says. Maybe we can get the government's approval."
This is also an important way for researchers to obtain funding. After all, what if he is approved? Now Mocha is thinking that if he is approved, his resume may be added, paving the way for future work.
(End of this chapter)
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