Chapter 621 Eurasian Fruit Basket Project
East Africa holds the strategic initiative regarding the Orange Free State, so it is not in a hurry. Moreover, now that East Africa has a larger base and more national affairs, it does not need to worry too much about the Orange Free State.
As for the strategic position of the Orange Free State, East Africa controls the Vaal River and the Lesotho Mountains, so it has obvious advantages. Ernst does not pay much attention to the Orange Free State. He maintains aid to the Orange people and lets them and the Transvaal people continue to consume each other.
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First town city.
"Your Highness, this is the 'Eurasian Fruit Basket Plan' proposed by the governments of the Northern and Juba provinces. Last year, the export of fruits and vegetables from the Northern and Juba provinces to Europe increased by 5.8 percent year-on-year, so the two provinces want to vigorously develop the plantation industry on this basis as a key pillar industry for the two provinces."
"Well, although the climate and environment in Somalia are a little bit worse, a blessing in disguise has led to the development of Somalia's characteristic agriculture."
Ernst naturally knew the pros and cons of the Somali region. If it were in his previous life, there would probably be few regions in the world more chaotic than Somalia.
Somalia under the rule of East Africa is completely different. In fact, for a long time in ancient times, the Somali region was a relatively prosperous region in Africa.
The population capacity here is reasonable, neither too many nor too few, and commerce and handicrafts are particularly prosperous. It is also one of the regional centers of maritime and land commerce.
"Your Highness, is this plan approved?"
"Let me take a look first!" Ernst did not express his opinion immediately but picked up the document and started reading: vigorously develop the plantation economy, transform the waterways of the two rivers, develop the shipping industry, upgrade ports, river-sea transport, and expand business in the Eurasian market.
"Interesting!" Ernst looked at the proposals of the two provincial governments and said, "It seems that the governments of Northern Province and Juba Province have done a lot of homework. Do you think we should agree to this project?"
"Of course, Your Highness, I think this plan is very feasible. The export trade of the two provinces has been very prosperous in recent years, second only to the Eastern Province and the Central Province among the coastal provinces, and has brought huge economic benefits to the kingdom. So personally, I support this plan."
Ernst affirmed: "That's right. There have been many large projects in East Africa in recent years, but not many of them are profitable. They require large investments and take a long time to complete, so it's hard to see results in the short term. However, the plan for the Northern Province and Juba Province is completely the opposite.
Let’s talk about the project volume first. Although it seems huge, it is actually just a system optimization on the original basis. For example, there are two aspects of transportation, one is inland waterway shipping and the other is sea transportation.
The Northern Province and Juba Province have two large natural rivers, the Shabelle River and the Juba River respectively, and the ports are also ready-made, which are simply expanded on the original basis.
Although the lower reaches of the Shabelle River and the Juba River flow through arid areas, the upper reaches have abundant water from the Ethiopian plateau, and the lower reaches are mainly plain terrain, the river channel is very smooth, and it is suitable for the development of inland waterway transportation.
Moreover, the fruit and vegetable industry is a dominant industry in the two provinces, and in terms of transportation, it is the closest tropical agricultural production area to Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, so the success rate of this river-sea transport is very high.”
The Somali region is the place in East Africa closest to the main shipping route on the northern coast of the Indian Ocean. With this advantage, the economy of the Somali region has continued to grow in recent years.
That is to say, the climate along the coast of Somalia is mainly tropical desert, otherwise it would definitely be one of the most developed regions in East Africa.
Of course, the most important thing is product competitiveness. Tropical fruits and vegetables are regional industries, and many tropical products can only be imported into Europe from other regions.
If European people want to consume tropical specialties such as tropical fruits and vegetables that are difficult to preserve and easy to spoil, Somalia is the best choice. This irreplaceability has made East African tropical agricultural products' dominant position in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia unshakable.
Unless East Africa commits suicide, this industry will continue to bring profits to East Africa. East Africa is not Somalia in its previous life, so there is no need to worry about this.
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Port of Mogadishu.
Mogadishu, under the governance of East Africa, is the most important port and economic city in the Northern Province. At the same time, it was set as the new capital of the Northern Province in the last administrative adjustment.
In recent years, the plantation economy in Mogadishu has seen great development, with new plantations constantly being opened along the Shabelle River.
At the same time, it has promoted the development of shipping on the Shabelle River, especially various small boats. Thousands of boats compete on the Shabelle River, especially in the Mogadishu section. Various goods, mainly fruits and vegetables, are piled up at the port and then transferred to the seaport for transportation to Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
In fact, the Arabian Peninsula is not far from Somalia, but the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula has a subtropical desert climate, and only the southern part has a tropical desert climate, which is the same as the Somalia region.
However, there are no large rivers like the Shabelle River and the Juba River in the southern Arabian Peninsula, so the conditions for agricultural development are far worse than in the Somalia region of East Africa, and there will not be a large development of Somalia's tropical agricultural industry.
East Africa has only upgraded the Port of Mogadishu once, so with the construction of other coastal ports in East Africa in recent years, the Port of Mogadishu has clearly fallen behind other ports.
This is not the key point. With the development of inland plantations, the export volume of goods in Somalia has increased significantly, which has caused the original Mogadishu port to have insufficient carrying capacity.
Therefore, this time the Northern Provincial Government has put forward the transformation of Mogadishu Port as an important goal in the "Eurasian Fruit Basket Plan".
The Port of Mogadishu relies on the Shabelle River. Its economic hinterland is narrow and long, distributed in strips, and the oasis plantation industry is prominently developed. This economic belt basically accounts for about 96% of the Northern Province's economic share. The economic share of Mogadishu alone in the Northern Province reaches 35%.
"The central government has approved the 'Eurasian Fruit Basket Plan' between us and Juba Province, so Mogadishu, as the center of this plan, will be used as a key demonstration area, and the expansion of Mogadishu Port can also be put on the agenda."
"Senior official, the focus of the expansion of Mogadishu Port is still on the labor issue. As mentioned earlier, our Northern Province has sent away the last batch of black workers, becoming the first black-free province in East Africa. However, correspondingly, the labor gap has also widened. Most people in the province have jobs, especially in high-intensity agriculture such as plantations. Therefore, the province may not be able to provide too much labor to upgrade Mogadishu Port."
"There is no need to worry about this. Since we have the support of the central government, we can just apply for a construction team. I heard that the construction of Mombasa Port and Dar es Salaam Port was completed by a professional construction team a few years ago."
"If we upgrade the existing port, will it delay the docking of ships and export trade?"
"This is indeed a problem, so we need to speed up the construction progress, or carry out construction in sections to ensure the normal operation of the port as much as possible."
"In this case, the number of workers required cannot be too small, so we need more manpower, and the same applies to tools. The most important thing is that the design work of Mogadishu Port should be carried out first. We need professionals to arrange the construction according to the conditions of the sea area near Mogadishu."
"In addition, we should also arrange the cargo distribution, order quantity, ship services and other tasks during the construction period in advance to avoid the work being crowded together and causing chaos."
(End of this chapter)
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