Chapter 869 New Frankfurt City
As for why BASF did not choose Bulawayo or Nairobi to directly open branches, the reason is very simple. Only the coastal areas of East Africa are open, and the inland areas cannot be entered.
Moreover, the industrial configuration of inland areas is basically dominated by East African state-owned enterprises. In fact, the various industrial sectors in the inland areas are complete, but their strength is relatively weak. In order to prevent them from being directly impacted by foreign capital, effective barriers are still feasible measures. At the same time, they can directly compete with foreign-funded enterprises in coastal areas, so as not to be trapped by the environment and stop making progress.
On the premise of having a moat, competition can be formed to maintain vitality. As long as it is operated properly, the basic foundation of East Africa's industry will be invincible.
This type of operation in East Africa was not prominent in the 19th century, because even the United States and Germany would protect their own industries from external shocks in the form of tariff barriers. The German Junker aristocracy was particularly prominent, and for economic interests they even opposed the easing of relations between Germany and Tsarist Russia, causing Tsarist Russia to lean towards the Allies during World War I.
Of course, East Africa also has similar policies, but East Africa can bypass commodity grain agriculture and turn to tropical cash crop agriculture to avoid direct competition. In this field, currently only Brazil and the Caribbean coastal countries can compete with East Africa to some extent.
Although India is a tropical country, it has too many people and needs to ensure basic food and clothing. It is impossible for it to compete with East Africa with all its strength. Moreover, India's land area is only three million square kilometers, which is far behind Brazil. Moreover, as a British colony, it has no autonomy and low productivity. In various fields, Britain gives priority to India's low labor costs rather than improving India's agricultural technology. The same is true for Brazil. Brazil's market is basically controlled by foreign capital, and it is difficult to achieve anything for the time being.
Southeast Asia, which was the most prosperous place for tropical cash crops in the past, is just starting out now and is unable to develop strong competitiveness.
…
New Frankfurt.
The city of New Frankfurt is Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia in its previous life. Since it was upgraded to a city, New Frankfurt has developed rapidly, which further complements its status as the largest railway hub in East Africa.
After inspecting the industrial development of Mbeya, Ernst went directly to New Frankfurt.
The current temperature in New Frankfurt is only around 24 degrees. As soon as he stepped out of the car, Ernst felt very comfortable.
In fact, since entering the East African Plateau, Ernst has felt that the inland area is more livable than the first town. If it weren't for the excessive adjustments on the railway, this trip would have been perfect.
"Since the upgrade of New Frankfurt, the population has increased to more than 80,000. The Central Railway, especially the North-South Line, brings together the largest industrial cities in East Africa in the north and south of New Frankfurt. Therefore, New Frankfurt has developed very rapidly, especially the equipment manufacturing industry and transportation industry. The food processing industry is the three major pillar industries of the local area."
After listening to the speech, Ernst affirmed the work done by the city of Frankfurt in recent years. After all, Kapiri Mposhi was just a small town, and it was not easy to develop to its current scale.
In its past life, Kapiri Mposhi was also a railway transportation hub in Zambia, but it was not very prominent among Zambian cities. Of course, this had a lot to do with the transportation construction in Zambia.
In the past, Kapiri Mposhi was only the end point of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, while the Central Railway of East Africa spans the two oceans from east to west, and reaches the edge of the Azande Plateau and the port city of New Hamburg on the southeast coast from north to south.
The driving role it plays is unparalleled. In the north is a string of copper mining cities, in the south there are also two major cities, Lusaka and Kabwe, and further south is directly Matabele Province.
Located between these cities, it is impossible for New Frankfurt to develop slowly even if it wants to. In the future, after the development of Angola is completed, the regional conditions of New Frankfurt will become more prominent.
Afterwards, under the leadership of the New Frankfurt Municipal Government, Ernst visited the local urban construction. The urban area of New Frankfurt relied on the development of both sides of the railway. After the train entered the New Frankfurt, Ernst had a certain understanding of the local infrastructure construction, but these were all superficial.
Ernst first visited the local factory construction. Thanks to the railway hub, although New Frankfurt is not a resource-based city, it is not short of various raw materials and has a relatively developed manufacturing industry. The copper mines in the north become semi-finished products such as copper ingots after rough processing, and New Frankfurt then carries out further processing. The same is true for resources such as iron ore.
"Our city will strive to land the power industry in New Frankfurt next. Previously, the most developed power industry was in Mbeya, Swabia and Hohenzollern. The resources of the two provinces were exported to Mbeya and then made into power products. New Frankfurt is optimistic about the prospects of power and intends to become one of the important cities in the regional power industry."
Mbeya is mentioned simply because the city has a high level of electricity technology. In East Africa, only Dar es Salaam and Mombasa can compare with it. Other cities are mostly in the second tier, including Lusaka, Harare in the south and Lubumbashi in the north.
Ernst naturally supports the idea of the new Frankfurt city: "The power industry is a strategic industry in East Africa. You can not only develop power, but I think you can also develop the automobile industry, and you can cooperate with surrounding cities. The entire automobile industry chain is a big project. All parts can be produced in advantageous regions, and the new Frankfurt city is a transportation hub. You can concentrate the parts and focus on assembly and processing, and then transport them across the country by rail."
"Of course, whether it is the automotive industry or the power industry, the key is to focus on research and development. We cannot just rely on reference. For example, the appearance, interior, configuration, etc. of the car must be carefully considered to continuously improve comfort and practicality."
"At the same time, we must pay attention to production safety, especially in the context of the vigorous popularization of electricity in East Africa. If electricity is not used properly, it is very dangerous, so you must popularize safety knowledge on the use of electricity to prevent accidents."
With the popularization of the electricity industry, industrial and residential electricity consumption in East Africa has increased significantly, and the popularization of electricity safety knowledge has become particularly important, especially after the high-voltage transmission system was put into use.
However, this is a rather long process. After all, even in the 21st century, many people still ignore this issue. In the 19th century, it was even more difficult to popularize electricity safety knowledge.
East Africa is relatively good, with a high rate of compulsory education and a high level of education among the people, so there are some advantages in working in this area. The acceptance level of the German people is also not low. As for other countries, it seems very difficult for the time being.
Of course, although there are more and more power facilities now, they are far from reaching the national standard. Many cities do not even have electricity. However, this does not affect East Africa's efforts to popularize common knowledge on electricity safety among the people across the country.
After all, according to the current electricity development in East Africa, I am afraid that in thirty years, even remote rural areas will be able to have access to the power grid. Now, various cities in the east have begun to use electricity on a large scale, and some rural areas in the east have also begun to install power products such as electric lights.
(End of this chapter)
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