Chapter 1534 Aviation Industry Conference
East Africa's approach to agriculture is similar to Roosevelt's later planned large-scale destruction of American agricultural products. Obviously, Roosevelt's New Deal's handling of agricultural overproduction also reflects the characteristics of "government forced intervention."
All this illustrates the necessity of government intervention during economic crises. After all, economic crises themselves are a manifestation of market regulation failure.
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In May 1932, the Central Province Aviation Industry Development Conference was held in Rhine City, led by the governments of Rhine City and New Frankfurt City in East Africa, and participated by towns such as Lusaka, Kitwe and Kabwe. The content of the conference mainly focused on two points.
The first was the issue of the layout of industries related to the aircraft manufacturing industry in the central provinces, and the second was the issue of the location of the airport in the central part of the empire.
Rhine Mayor Messer said: "The aircraft manufacturing industry is an important new industry that emerged in the 20th century. The emergence of aircraft has laid the foundation for the current pattern of three-way division of transportation: sea, land and air. Although the aviation industry is still far behind the former two, it cannot be denied that the aviation industry has shown its huge market potential."
"As the heart of the empire, our Central Province should not give up this emerging industry and market. At the same time, by vigorously developing the aviation industry, we can offset our shortcomings in water transportation development and consolidate the Central Province's position as the core transportation hub of the empire."
The Central Province is located in the most central part of the East African economy, connecting the north and the south and the east and the west. It is also the seat of the empire's administrative center. Therefore, in the field of land transportation construction, it is the well-deserved heart of East Africa, bringing together two national comprehensive railway hubs and multiple regional transportation hubs.
But as Mayor Messe said, the upper limit of water transportation development in Central Province is not high. Although Central Province is located at the confluence of the Congo River and the Zambezi River, it is difficult to play a core node role in inland water transportation due to its terrain and climate.
Although there are artificial canals in the province, the freight volume is limited and cannot compete with railways and highways.
This is also a great regret of the Central Province. However, the Central Province cannot become the core hub of inland water transportation in East Africa, and other regions cannot do this either.
Given East Africa's national conditions, if it wants to become a core hub for inland water transportation, it must do one thing, which is to be able to connect the water transportation between the east and west of East Africa, but this is basically impossible to achieve.
Mayor Messe said: "For the empire, even if inland water transport can be connected, its competitiveness is very limited. Except for the main stream area of the Zambezi River, East Africa lacks waterways that can directly reach the inland hinterland."
"On the contrary, railways and roads are more accessible, and with technological advances, their costs have been greatly reduced, which is more in line with the national conditions of the empire."
"Aviation will become the fourth mode of transportation, not inferior to road, rail and water transport. The aviation industry is different from automobile, ship and locomotive manufacturing. It has more stringent technical requirements and involves many cutting-edge technologies, such as materials, engines, avionics, aerodynamics, etc."
"This makes the aircraft manufacturing industry's industrial chain longer and more technology-intensive, places stricter requirements on the knowledge and abilities of practitioners, and requires more specialized factories and skilled workers."
"Therefore, the development of the aviation industry requires a large number of upstream and downstream enterprises. If you want to achieve something in the aviation industry by fighting alone, it is far less likely to be achieved than through collaboration among multiple cities."
To put it bluntly, the complexity of the aviation industry can easily make people daunted. At least the Rhine city government is unwilling to bear the risk of independent research and development and production. Therefore, it has to bring in other cities in the central province to share part of the task and finally form a large-scale regional aviation manufacturing base.
Messer said: "For example, our city of Rhineland has a high concentration of talents. It gathers talents from all over the country and has many scientific research institutions. Therefore, in the fields of aircraft design, aerodynamic research, and new material research and development, Rhineland has an absolute advantage."
"The main force of research and development will be undertaken by our city of Laiyin, while production will be carried out by other cities in the province. We will combine our own advantages to distribute tasks, and everyone will work together to make the pie bigger and share the dividends in the end."
It has to be said that Messer's proposal still attracted the interest of many powerful towns in the province. As a high-end industry, the aircraft manufacturing industry can generate considerable profits even if it is just the production of some parts.
Now, the cities of Rhineland and New Frankfurt are willing to share with them and let them participate, which is indeed very attractive to them.
After all, without the dominance of the two major cities of Rhineland and New Frankfurt, it would be impossible for other towns in the central province to build an aviation industry. Even if they did, it would be difficult to compete with industrially strong regions such as the east and west coasts or Bohemia.
The aviation industry requires huge investment. If you spend all your energy to develop it but are unable to compete with other regions, it will be a complete loss-making business.
With the participation of Rhine City and New Frankfurt City, the meaning is completely different. Rhine City is the technology research and development center, and education and cultural center of East Africa, which can ensure the technological advancement and personnel reserves in the aviation industry.
The city of New Frankfurt has a highly developed equipment manufacturing industry. To be honest, the city of Rhineland and the city of New Frankfurt alone can solve a huge part of the problems in the aviation industry.
At this time, Henry, the mayor of New Frankfurt, said: "In the aviation industry of the Central Province, our city can provide support in core equipment and workers, such as aircraft engines, fuselage manufacturing, and parts welding and installation."
The city of New Frankfurt itself is one of the automobile manufacturing centers in East Africa and an important supplier of railway equipment in East Africa. When the city of New Frankfurt was first established, East Africa had a locomotive manufacturing plant. Therefore, the city of New Frankfurt has its own core advantages in engines.
In the world's early aviation industry, one of the main sources of technology for aircraft engines came from the automobile industry. For example, piston engines were widely used in the automobile industry and were then borrowed and used on aircraft.
Henry went on to say, “We in New Frankfurt can also provide other things such as the aircraft’s avionics system, some instruments, as well as landing gear, tires, etc.”
There is no doubt that the industrial strength of the city of New Frankfurt itself is very strong. This is also the main reason why this Central Province Aviation Industry Conference is jointly led by the city of Rhine and the city of New Frankfurt.
The Rhine City is better at R&D and innovation, while the New Frankfurt City can also share a lot of benefits with its complete industrial chain and a large number of skilled workers.
Of course, compared with these two cities, other industrial towns in the central province also have their own specialties.
After Rhine City and New Frankfurt City, Kitwe City could not wait to state its own advantages.
“Kitwe has unique advantages in the fields of metal processing and metal material science. We can be responsible for the production and processing of some metal parts. At the same time, some instruments and avionics equipment can also be produced in Kitwe.”
In recent years, thanks to the foresight of Kitwe's previous leaders, Kitwe's transformation has been very successful. After experiencing some pains, the core of Kitwe's development has shifted to the tertiary industry, especially the film and television industry, becoming a typical case in East Africa today.
However, as an old industrial city in East Africa, Kitwe's industry has not declined, but has turned to high-quality development. It has made certain breakthroughs in fields such as metal smelting and processing, precision instrument manufacturing, and home appliance manufacturing. Although it cannot be compared with Rhine City and New Frankfurt, its industrial strength ranks above other towns in the Central Province.
However, after the industry shifted to high value-added industries, Kitwe City also encountered problems, especially in terms of market competition. East Africa has many cities with strong industrial strength. Therefore, Kitwe City urgently needs to open a window in the field of industrial development so that the city’s high-end manufacturing industry can stabilize rather than be a "flash in the pan."
This aviation industry conference was noticed by the Kitwe City Government. If more orders can be obtained, it will pave the way for the subsequent industrial development of Kitwe City.
Rhine City and New Frankfurt City do not care much about Kitwe City's idea, because they are large and powerful, and it does not matter if other cities in the province take a bite. Moreover, this can also enhance their competitiveness and voice in the national economy. After all, if Kitwe City wants to join them, it will inevitably become an extended area of the two cities' economy.
Just as Mayor Messe said before, going it alone is not the goal of Rhine City. As the capital of East Africa, Rhine City has never limited its vision to the Central Province, or even East Africa itself, but to the whole world.
Therefore, as long as Kitwe has the ability, Rhine City is willing to give it the opportunity to perform instead of restricting its development, and the same is true for New Frankfurt.
As the twin cities of East Africa, Rheinland and New Frankfurt are different from other twin cities, such as Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, Luanda and Cabinda, Harare and Bulawayo. Their competition is very fierce.
The cooperation between Rhine City and New Frankfurt City is greater than the competition, or it can be said that New Frankfurt City has no intention of competing with Rhine City at all. After all, Rhine City is the capital of the empire, and the status between the two is very clear, with Rhine City being the "boss".
Of course, this is also related to the different economic development directions of Rhine City and New Frankfurt City. Rhine City focuses on the tertiary industry, scientific and technological research and development, and cutting-edge industries, while New Frankfurt City focuses on equipment manufacturing. The two are more complementary than competitive.
The biggest competition between the two cities may be in transportation. Although Rhine City is also an imperial railway transportation hub, it mainly plays a backup role and does not hinder the role of the new Frankfurt railway hub in the national economy.
The main strategic competitors of the new Frankfurt city are other large cities in East Africa with equipment manufacturing as their core, such as Dar es Salaam and Cabinda in the coastal areas, or Harare and Bulawayo in the central areas.
As for Kitwe, although its strength is good in East Africa, it is still not in the eyes of New Frankfurt City. Therefore, New Frankfurt City does not care much about giving up some industries to Kitwe City.
With Kitwe as an example, other industrial towns in the Central Province also began to express their opinions. However, among other cities in the Central Province, only Lusaka and Kabwe are strong enough to get a share of the production of some parts. Other towns have fewer opportunities.
Therefore, the cities in the Central Province can be divided into four tiers. The first tier is Rhine City and New Frankfurt City, the second tier is Kitwe City, the third tier is Lusaka and Kabwe, and the fourth tier is basically not up to standard.
After intense discussions, the cake of the Central Province's aviation industry was distributed, and the next topic was the site selection of the airport in the central part of the empire.
The so-called Central Imperial Airport is actually a rather advanced concept. Now that the potential of the civil aviation industry has been initially demonstrated, naturally there are people who want to use airplanes as a means of transportation to achieve breakthroughs in logistics and passenger transport, and then drive the development of the regional economy.
As for this, the three cities of Rhine, New Frankfurt and Kabwe are the most interested. Needless to say, the first two naturally hope to get a share of the aviation market and hope to use it to consolidate their position in the national economic landscape.
Kabwe's case is rather special. The reason why he is interested in the location of the Central Airport is simply to get a ride.
Therefore, the mayor of Kabwe was the first to speak on this matter: "Regarding the location of the Imperial Central Airport, it must be located between Rhine City, New Frankfurt City and our Kabwe City."
"Since the 1920s, Kabwe has actively integrated into the central metropolitan area advocated by the Rhine City and the New Frankfurt City. Due to its geographical location, our city of Kabwe has become one of the important cores of this metropolitan area."
“So, since the 1920s, our city of Kabwe has been actively developing towards the east and north, hoping to strengthen cooperation with the city of Rhine and the city of New Frankfurt, promote the economic integration of the three cities, and ultimately accelerate the formation of the central metropolitan area.”
"So the Central Airport should naturally be located in the center of our three cities. I think it should be located in the center of the three cities. Our three cities should jointly invest and build an aviation industrial zone that integrates logistics, passenger transportation, and industry."
"This aviation industrial zone is just about 30 kilometers away from the three cities, which can meet the travel needs of residents in the three cities. This distance can also reduce the noise pollution problem of the airport. At the same time, it will not increase the logistics costs and can ensure the airport's passenger and cargo needs."
The construction of Kabwe City can meet various needs to the greatest extent. In the 21st century, the ideal distance between most airports and the city center was about 30 to 50 kilometers. This distance is not far for the current East African cities and can be reached by car within half an hour.
At the same time, the radiation area can be optimized. Rhine City and New Frankfurt City are both large cities with a population of over one million, and Kabwe has a population of more than 200,000. At the same time, building the airport and aviation industrial zone here can also radiate to Kitwe and Lusaka, two important regional cities in the central province in the south and the north.
It can also be seen from here that the so-called Imperial Central Airport is very different from the conventional airports in the world today. It is more inclined to drive regional economic development rather than just passenger transport.
If they just wanted to develop conventional airports, Rheinland and New Frankfurt would have already had them. Of course, the conventional airports of the 1930s, in terms of scale or function, were obviously not comparable to the behemoths of the 21st century.
(End of this chapter)
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