Chapter 589: Prosperous New City
"Well, it seems that you, as the factory director, also understand the situation in the factory. Now is the era of science and technology. What we lack in East Africa is educated people, so we still need to listen more to experts. However, there is a saying that it is better to have no books than to believe in them blindly. Theoretical research will inevitably conflict with reality, so our factory in East Africa must combine reality and focus on production down to earth."
Constantine's best area was military affairs, and he didn't know much about corporate management, especially state-owned enterprises like those in East Africa, so he didn't give blind orders and could only say some encouraging words.
Of course, Constantine thought so in his heart, and was actually influenced by the overall environment in East Africa. He had come into contact with similar enterprises before. As a big government country, Prussia had many factories run by the state, which were concentrated in some military industrial enterprises, the most typical of which was the nationalization of railways.
It’s just that there are too many state-owned enterprises in East Africa. There are still many private enterprises in East Africa. There are many enterprises invested by German businessmen in the East, but the management in East Africa is stricter, so the number of investments is not large.
These private enterprises account for a very small proportion in the East African economy, but they cannot be treated as non-existent. Moreover, they have accepted East Africa's rules and regulations, which shows that these businessmen want to focus on industry. East Africa does not discriminate against businessmen, but there are more restrictions. East Africa still welcomes legal businessmen who are willing to accept East African rules.
The director of the Harare Tobacco Factory was naturally very happy when he heard Constantine's words. After all, it was very difficult to get the approval of a big leader, and this was the first time the king visited Matabele Province, so he said respectfully: "We must continue to work hard and strive to contribute to the national economic development!"
Constantine then left the tobacco factory amid the respect and awe of the crowd. His means of transportation was a luxurious carriage brought by a special train.
Through the car window, Constantine looked at the urban construction of Harare again. Because Constantine's visit to Harare was not deliberately promoted, the roads were not closed and pedestrians were rushing on the streets as usual.
Of course, Constantine's motorcade still attracted the attention of pedestrians. After all, there were mounted police leading the way, and Constantine's motorcade was very long, so everyone knew at a glance that the person coming was a big shot.
As for how big it is, the citizens of Harare can't guess for sure. It can't be the King himself, because there is no precedent in East Africa.
Constantine looked at the bustling crowds on both sides through the car window with great interest. Because the road planning in East African cities is relatively wide, even if Constantine's convoy occupied the west side of the main road, both sides could still be used normally by citizens and vehicles.
The total population of Harare is about 160,000. It has caught up with many old cities in a very short period of time, so it is called a new city.
As the sub-center of Matabele Province, Bulawayo, the former capital of Matabele Kingdom, also has a population of over 100,000. The population size of the two cities can give us a glimpse of East Africa's support for Matabele Province.
"Your Majesty, according to the itinerary, we will visit the Harare Chromium Plant, then the Steel Plant, a newly built Arsenal, and the Harare Locomotive Manufacturing Plant," said the old butler Cade.
There are rich chromium ore resources near the city of Harare. Chromium mines are scattered within 60 kilometers from the city center, so this is one of the centers of chromite smelting in East Africa and is considered one of the characteristic industries of the city of Harare.
Of course, there are also gold mines in Harare. Unlike chromium mines, East Africa has no plans to develop new gold mines for the time being. After all, there are enough gold mines in the east. Even Ernst himself wants to know how many gold mines there are under the land of East Africa.
As for the arsenal, it is easy to explain. East Africa's military industry will definitely be located in Matabele Province because it is the hinterland and rear base of East Africa. It is not ruled out that some confidential institutions and factories will be located in inland areas such as Matabele Province in the future.
Steel mills and locomotive manufacturing plants are relatively conventional factories in East Africa. After all, Harare is an important node city along the Central Railway. Cities like First Town and Soga, which are also along the railway, are relatively inactive and have no layout of related industries because the two cities have different positioning.
The above are just some of the key industries in Harare, but there are even more supporting factories and facilities surrounding these industries.
For example, at the chrome mine, Constantine would at most take a look at the periphery and meet with the factory's leaders and workers, but he had no time to inspect other processing plants surrounding the chrome mine.
The trip to Harare was Constantine's first in-depth understanding of the development situation in the interior of East Africa. So far, Constantine is quite satisfied with the construction of Harare.
As a new city that was designed and planned first and then built, Harare is very different from the East African cities in the east. Although the eastern cities have only been built for a few years, they have developed roughly during the colonial era.
At that time, East Africa did not have the extra money and energy to invite European architects to plan East African cities, so those early cities developed more or less spontaneously.
Moreover, European architects at that time were not confident enough to venture to East Africa to do design, as East Africa was still a region stereotyped by Europeans as a place where people ate raw meat and drank blood.
With the rise of a series of coastal cities in East Africa, the clean and prosperous cityscape and developed trade attracted a group of businessmen to place orders or enjoy services in Dar es Salaam and Mombasa. The reputation of East Africa also spread along with these businessmen and thus improved.
After all, the service in East Africa is first-class, and there are few places better than East Africa in the entire Indian Ocean coast. Of course, it is not without disadvantages. That is, the security in East Africa is too good, and it is a bit difficult to have a high-end experience. People on the sea are more or less bold and focus more on pleasure.
Having said that, there are more merchants and sailors coming to the coastal cities of East Africa because there are not many thieves and pickpockets here, there is sufficient police force, and safety is important to many people.
With a good reputation, East Africa can take advantage of this opportunity to recruit some talents from Europe. Against this background, the urban construction of Harare is completely different from the past.
After an on-site inspection by the expert group, it took more than half a year of design before the groundbreaking of the Harare city construction project was possible.
The city of Harare places the greatest emphasis on the construction of civil infrastructure such as underground water systems, roads, and drinking water pipes, while also reserving space for subsequent urban transformation.
Like other cities, Harare also pays attention to environmental issues. There are many parks and green plants in the city, making the whole city full of vitality.
However, Ernst had never conducted an on-site investigation. The last time he came to Harare was when he was on a business trip in his previous life. In his previous life, Harare was known as the "Little Paris of Africa", the "City of Sunshine" and the "City of Flowers and Trees".
The city center is indeed beautiful, but Harare has also been voted one of the "least livable cities in the world."
This is not a contradiction. Many foreign countries have slums and rich areas, and so does Harare. Moreover, public security is very poor regardless of whether a country is developed or not. It's just that many African countries don't even have a little order.
However, these have nothing to do with the current city of Harare. In the previous life, Harare inherited British culture and architecture, but in this life it has been completely Germanized in the hands of East Africa, so there is no comparability between the two.
(End of this chapter)
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