Chapter 623 Mogadishu Port Reconstruction
As the Eurasian Fruit Basket Project began to be implemented, Mogadishu in the Northern Province and Kismayo in Juba Province were the first to take action.
The Port of Mogadishu is the most important port in the Northern Province, and the city of Kismayo is the outlet of the Juba River. It has more advantages than Mogadishu in river-sea transport.
In the past, Kismayo's main export was bananas, along with livestock, leather, canned food, etc. It had modern slaughterhouses, larger meat and fish canning factories, and small industries such as leather making.
The same is true for the export of bananas in Kismayo, which is under the jurisdiction of East Africa. Compared with Kismayo, Mogadishu has a more prosperous cotton industry, and the Shabelle River is also an important high-quality long-staple cotton producing area in East Africa.
The long-staple cotton producing areas in East Africa are mainly divided into three parts, namely the Shabelle River Basin in the Northern Province, the Juba River Basin in Juba Province, and finally the lower White Nile River producing area in the Nile Province.
In this case, cotton is deseeded in all three locations, and the semi-finished products are then transported to textile centers such as Nairobi, Mombasa, and Dar es Salaam for further processing to meet local demand in East Africa.
Or it can be directly used as raw material and exported through ports. The market demand for long-staple cotton is very strong, so there is no need to worry about the market. These cottons are basically sold to Europe, especially Central and Eastern Europe. This has injected fresh blood into Germany and Austria, where the textile industry is relatively developed, and further enhanced the competitiveness of their products.
Bananas and cotton are industries that the East African governments are promoting. While the famous animal husbandry in Somalia has shrunk, other specialty industries have also developed, among which the leather industry is very popular.
This is related to the national conditions of East Africa. In addition to its rich animal resources, East Africa should be considered the country with the largest number of crocodiles in the world, which are almost found in rivers and lakes across the country.
The same is true for the Shabelle River and the Juba River. In the south of Mogadishu, that is, in the lower reaches of the Shabelle River, there are wetland systems such as lakes and swamps, with a large number of crocodiles. The number of crocodiles in the entire Shabelle River basin is probably more than the population of the entire northern province, which provides sufficient raw materials for Mogadishu's leather industry.
In the past, crocodile intestines were precious dishes used by Somalis to entertain guests. Crocodile performances were the most attractive activity for tourists in Mogadishu. At the same time, Mogadishu enjoyed the reputation of "Crocodile Kingdom".
However, as mentioned before, crocodiles are distributed basically throughout East Africa, so Somalia's crocodile leather industry is not very prominent in East Africa. For example, the Limpopo River in southern East Africa is also known as the "Crocodile River".
However, Somalia has a locational advantage and is close to the main shipping route between Asia and Europe, making it an important crocodile leather export market. Not only does it sell to East Africa, but merchants from Europe and Asia also come here specifically to purchase it.
The ports of Mogadishu and Kismayo under the rule of East Africa have both undergone renovations and upgraded their hardware, but their relative commercial trade is indeed not as good as before, which is related to East Africa's policy of isolation.
Mogadishu, an important regional trade center, was forced to be interrupted due to East Africa's conquest of the Geledi Sultanate, which also meant that the original economic foundation of the Somali region no longer existed.
The decline of Somali coastal cities such as Mogadishu in recent years has accelerated the development of southern East African coastal cities such as Mombasa and Dar es Salaam.
Now that the cities of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam have developed, port cities such as Mogadishu can receive more support from the East African governments.
In August, the East African government mobilized the first construction team of more than 200 people from the south, most of whom were port design and construction personnel serving the East African government.
They began surveying and planning the ports of Mogadishu and Kismayo, making initial preparations for upgrading the port capacity of Mogadishu and Kismayo.
"The port of Mogadishu is still at the level of the old port of the former Sultanate of Geredi. Although it has been repaired and maintained, there has been no fundamental change. It is just a change of name but not substance. It can only be said that the basic functions of the port when it was first built have been restored, but there has been no substantial improvement.
With the development of the Shabelle River Basin and the increase in population in the future, the export trade of the Northern Province will be further expanded. Therefore, the expansion of Mogadishu Port should involve large-scale demolition and reconstruction of the old port area and replanning of functional zoning. "The chief designer of the Mogadishu Port Reconstruction Project, Austrian engineer Roel Wendy, told Mogadishu municipal government officials after inspecting Mogadishu Port.
"Designer Roel Wendy, if the port facilities are demolished on a large scale, it may affect the foreign trade of Mogadishu. So can we avoid this problem?"
Roelwendi said: "If this is the case, we can only open a new port in the south of Mogadishu, so that the port expansion can be completed on time without delaying short-term business activities. However, this will change the urban layout of Mogadishu, because a new port area will have more supporting infrastructure, and the industry will also change with the port. In the future, Mogadishu's industry and population will gather in the south."
"Does the opening of a new port also mean that we have to rebuild a city district?"
"That's not the case. If you don't mind the trouble, you can build a road from the city to the new port area to solve this problem. And as far as I know, you are aiming to build river-sea transport this time, which will be of great advantage in planning the connection between the Shabelle River and the Port of Mogadishu."
After all, Mogadishu is different from Kismayo. Kismayo is directly located at the mouth of the Juba River, which saves a lot of trouble in connecting Kismayo Port to the Juba River. However, the disadvantage is that the port dredging work will be more frequent than Mogadishu in the future.
Although Mogadishu is a seaport and is very close to the Shabelle River, it is still some distance away from the Shabelle River and requires a road to ensure connection. As for the lower reaches of the Shabelle River, it is still a long distance after passing through Mogadishu City, and it is an important irrigation agricultural area in the Northern Province and Juba Province.
"Of course, you don't have to worry too much. You can keep the old port and open a new one. This is the experience of Dar es Salaam. Now the new and old port areas of Dar es Salaam are developing quite well. It can even be said that Dar es Salaam has completely surpassed Mombasa for this reason. So this option is a good thing for you in Mogadishu."
"Will the cost exceed the budget?"
"There is even less need to worry about that. According to the previous design, a new breakwater was to be rebuilt on the basis of the old port. Now it is just moved south. The port cost will not be much higher. On the contrary, it may be cheaper. However, as mentioned before, you have to re-purchase supporting infrastructure to ensure that Mogadishu's trade will not be affected in the short term. The major expenditure can be shared with subsequent projects."
Rolwindi's words reassured the Mogadishu municipal government. In fact, the main reason is that the current Mogadishu Port is small, and there is a lot of space for transformation and new construction, which provides Rolwindi with sufficient operating space.
"Thank you very much, Mr. Rawndy. The rainy season is only two months away, so I hope you and your team can speed up the progress. We will try to start the work next month. Otherwise, there will be some troubles after the rainy season, especially during the busy farming season. Mogadishu does not have sufficient manpower."
(End of this chapter)
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