Chapter 887 Eight Northern Cities
Ernst's few words were enough to get the people busy. Although the backward industries needed to be relocated to the north, they could not decide where to relocate them casually. Even backward industries were valuable resources for East Africa. After all, the current industrial scale in East Africa was not large and the demand was far from sufficient. Therefore, even the transfer of backward industries required research and investigation.
In this regard, Ernst said rather unethically: "I think the location of Gezira City is very good. It is located in the Gezira Plain and has a certain agricultural foundation. At the same time, it is close to the Nile River and has no shortage of water resources. We can focus on developing a number of highly polluting industries such as the chemical industry. This will not affect our domestic environment, and at the same time facilitate trade between us and Egypt."
The Nile River flows from south to north and is an international river, mainly involving three countries: East Africa, Egypt and the Abyssinian Empire.
International rivers are generally prone to international disputes, mainly water source issues. Most rivers in the Upper Nile Basin (South Sudan) eventually converge into the Nile River.
The city of Gezira is the last section of the Nile River in East Africa. It would be very unethical to set up highly polluting industries here. East Africa, located upstream of the river, will inevitably pollute the water of the Nile River in Egypt.
The Nile River is the mother river of Egypt, and most of the drinking and irrigation water comes from the Nile River, so Ernst's idea is very dangerous.
However, officials in East Africa agree with this point. After all, people of this era have no concept of environmental protection, and the development of industry will inevitably cause pollution. All industrial wastewater in East Africa is discharged into rivers and seas.
Currently, the main industrial areas in East Africa are concentrated in the eastern coast, the shores of Lake Malawi, and the central region, so East Africa's industrial wastewater is mainly discharged in two directions, namely the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.
The water from Lake Malawi flows into the Zambezi River through the Shire River, and the main rivers near the central industrial zone are tributaries of the Zambezi River and the Congo River, so part of it flows into the Zambezi River and part into the Congo River, and then their return journeys are the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean respectively.
Of course, if East Africa deploys high-pollution industries in Gezira, the impact is not as bad as imagined. After all, the country with the most serious pollution of the Nile River is Egypt itself.
Although Egypt is backward, its industrial level is second only to East Africa in the whole of Africa, and Egypt's industrial wastewater is obviously discharged into the Nile River. In the past, the Nile River was one of the most polluted rivers in the world that could compete with the Ganges River in India.
Although the population in the Ganges River basin far exceeds that of the Nile River, the Ganges River has a large flow and strong self-cleaning ability. The Nile River has less water and only one river channel in the lower reaches, so natural pollution is more serious. In addition, Egypt has a dense population, and the water used by residents along the coast all comes from the Nile River. However, the corresponding domestic sewage and industrial sewage can only rely on the Nile River.
So even if East Africa does not pollute the Nile, the Egyptians themselves will pollute it. In fact, this is the current situation. Egypt introduced a large number of textile companies during the Ali era. The pollution in the textile industry is very serious, and these industrial wastewaters are of course the main source of pollution in the Nile.
As for the Abyssinian Empire and East Africa upstream, their impact on the Nile River was actually very small. Of course, the Abyssinian Empire was a purely agricultural country and it was impossible for it to have much impact on the water quality of the Nile River.
Although East Africa has a certain scale of industry, most of the industrial deployment is in agricultural areas, except for some cities along the Great Lakes (Lake Victoria) region, and the impact on the Nile River is not significant.
Of course, whether Gezira can carry out industrial development is inevitable. Gezira is one of the important long-staple cotton producing areas in East Africa. Apart from other things, the textile industry must be arranged. In this way, part of Nairobi's textile industry must be moved to Gezira.
As for the chemical industry, although Gezira has the advantage of being located in the upper reaches of the river, the development of the chemical industry also requires a certain industrial foundation in the local area. In addition, there are many cities in East Africa that are interested in the chemical industry because the chemical industry is also an emerging industry in East Africa.
Moreover, the city of Gezira is far away from the hinterland of East Africa, and the railway from Juba to Gezira has not yet been opened, so the industrial development of Gezira will take time.
"Bangui will definitely be the focus of development. Meanwhile, Mogadishu on the Somali coast, Kismayo, Bangassou on the Azande Plateau, Dire Dawa, and Turkana Province are all priority options."
Turkana Province was singled out. As one of the earliest developed regions in East Africa, Turkana Province is currently the most important oil producing area in East Africa. It also has multiple trade ports connected to the Abyssinian Empire, and railways and highways have already been opened. Therefore, it will be the focus of the industrial sector this time.
Apart from Turkana Province, Bangui has the most prominent position. Downstream of it are Kinshasa and Cabinda, to the north are the Sigmaringen Royal Territory and German Cameroon, and to the west is Belgian Congo. Therefore, East Africa must vigorously develop the city of Bangui.
In addition to economic considerations, there are naturally national defense and security considerations. The Northwest region has a relatively small population and is not a key development direction for East Africa. However, with the activities of other colonists, East Africa will inevitably pay more attention to local security to prevent the erosion of territory.
Most of the border between East Africa and Belgium is located on the right bank of the Ubangi River. There are many swamps in the area, so the current border between the two countries is actually difficult to distinguish. As for the other two colonies, Sigmaringen East Africa is not a concern, and although the relationship with German Cameroon is friendly, we must definitely be on guard.
Eventually, the East African government identified several key cities for the transfer of backward industries, namely Dire Dawa, Jimma, Gambella (border of the Abyssinian Empire), Juba, Gezira, Bangassou (Central Africa), Bria (Central Africa), and Bangui.
These eight cities are basically spread across various provinces in northern East Africa. Most of them are located in the border area, including Dire Dawa, Jimma, Juba and Gezira. Bangui is actually also close to the border, but the urban area is far away from the border. In addition, there are regional transportation hubs, such as Bangui, Juba and Bria.
As for the cities that were not selected, some of them are not in poor conditions. Cities like Mogadishu, Kismayo and some cities in Turkana Province actually have a certain industrial base, so they do not need these backward industries that are about to be eliminated.
Taking Mogadishu as an example, its key development industry is the food processing industry, which is among the top industries in East Africa. At the same time, Mogadishu also has the textile industry as one of its pillar industries. Its textile industry has just been put into production in recent years, which is mainly the result of the last "Eurasian Fruit Basket Plan" to attract investment in two provinces of Somalia.
Moreover, with the cooperation between East Africa and Germany, more German businessmen have chosen to invest and build factories in the coastal areas of East Africa. There are many opportunities in themselves, so this transfer of backward industries is not very favored by Mogadishu and other places.
After all, the investments of Germany and Austria-Hungary are definitely focused on emerging technologies on the market. If they take over backward industries eliminated in the central and eastern regions, it will be a burden rather than an opportunity for these cities.
Therefore, these backward industries still need to be transferred to the underdeveloped areas of East Africa. Of course, they cannot be completely without any economic foundation. Otherwise, even if the backward industries are transferred to the local areas, they may not be able to operate. The eight cities selected above are of this level, which perfectly meets the needs of the East African government.
(End of this chapter)
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