Chapter 625: Thoughts of the City of Dire Dawa
Modlain told Roalman Karlin that the development of Mogadishu Port is indeed inconsistent with its original historical status. Before East Africa occupied Mogadishu, Mogadishu should have been the largest port on the coast of East Africa. Now it can only be compared with some less important ports.
On the one hand, this is because East Africa has focused its energy on developing the southern and inland areas. On the other hand, the early destruction of the Geledi Sultanate by East Africa also caused its original commercial trade to plummet and eventually cease to exist. It has only prospered again in the past two or three years with the fruit and vegetable trade.
"Mr. Commissioner, thank you for your help. Our province has been at a disadvantage in immigration quotas for many years. If we can increase the number of immigrants, it will definitely greatly alleviate the labor shortage problem in the province." said Roalman Karlin.
There is no doubt that most immigrants are high-quality laborers. It may be that they have just arrived in East Africa and it takes some time for them to integrate into East Africa.
"Don't be too happy too soon. I'm just reporting to the central government. As for whether the central government agrees or not, that's still to be seen. But there's a high probability that they will agree, because since they approved your plan before, it means that the central government attaches great importance to it."
Modlain's words were ambiguous, but he actually had to think deeply about it, because this project in Somalia is bound to be profitable, so the East African government is willing to invest in it, otherwise it would certainly not approve the "Eurasian Fruit Basket Project". Now that it has approved the project, it will definitely invest resources in it.
…
Dire Dawa.
"Will the Northern Province's major economic moves affect our Dire Dawa?" asked Helain, the mayor of Dire Dawa.
"Mr. Mayor, you are worrying too much. Although Dire Dawa belongs to the Northern Province, the relationship between the two is extremely special. When Dire Dawa was first established, it was a military stronghold and generally did not participate in the affairs of the Northern Province. Instead, when it came to the military, the Ministry of National Defense would intervene in the Northern Province. So no matter what, Dire Dawa is in an active position."
"In fact, in comparison, Dire Dawa's geographical location is very awkward. Although we are part of the Northern Province, we are located in the northernmost part. The economy and population of the Northern Province are mainly distributed in the Shabelle River Basin in the south, while Dire Dawa is south of the East African Rift Valley. The economic ties between the two sides are not close."
The city of Dire Dawa was first established to counterbalance the power of Britain, France and Italy near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. As the population of Dire Dawa increased, it gradually developed from a military town into a city, but it still has a distinct military color.
After becoming a city, the Dire Dawa Municipal Government was also established, and it had some of the same configurations as other cities in East Africa. However, Dire Dawa City also has an embarrassment, which is that it is too far away from the Northern Province.
The economic center and population of the Northern Province are in the southeast, while Dire Dawa is in the northwest, so when the Northern Provincial Government formulates plans and implements policies, it will naturally ignore Dire Dawa.
This is actually easy to understand. For example, if a province's main crop is wheat, but some of its areas grow rice, then the possibility of this province introducing wheat planting subsidies is much greater than rice planting subsidies, which will easily create centrifugal force.
The city of Dire Dawa is obviously a region that does not have a strong sense of belonging to the Northern Province. However, this is not important to Dire Dawa, because Dire Dawa is an important frontier town, so its priority is even higher than that of the Northern Province. Instead, the Northern Province will support the development of Dire Dawa.
"Mr. Mayor, our Dire Dawa city is geographically remote, and because of military reasons, many industries cannot develop as they wish. Moreover, the conditions here are not very good, so we should give priority to providing services and support for the military. This is also one of the reasons why Dire Dawa was established, so we must not lose sight of the main goal."
The emergence of the city of Dire Dawa in the past was entirely due to the construction of the Ethiopian railway, which made it an important hub connecting the Port of Djibouti.
The purpose of establishing the city of Dire Dawa in East Africa is also related to the Djibouti region, but the idea is completely different from that of Ethiopia.
Ethiopia's purpose is mainly for domestic economic development, after all, the country has no access to the sea, while East Africa's purpose is entirely to target various hostile forces in the region militarily.
Helaine: "You are right. My position as mayor is indeed different from other areas. Most of the troops and their families are stationed in Dire Dawa. The essence of this is to provide security services to the soldiers on the front line."
Having said that, Helaine still envied officials from other areas of the Northern Province. This time, the "Eurasian Fruit Basket Plan" was such a big move, and it was all political achievements, but the city of Dire Dawa could only watch. Naturally, Helaine was not very happy.
"Mr. Mayor, you don't need to be too depressed. Mogadishu has its advantages, and Dire Dawa also has its own economic growth points. We cannot participate in the 'Eurasian Fruit Basket Plan' this time, but we can definitely set up some economic projects to boost the economy of Dire Dawa."
"What do you think?" Helaine asked.
"The biggest geographical advantage of our Dire Dawa city is that it is close to various countries, especially Britain, France and Italy. Soldiers from Britain and France are high-quality customers. As for Italians, there are enough of them, and because of Italy's colonization in the northwest, they also have a large shortage of supplies. Our Dire Dawa city can fully promote the economic development of Dire Dawa city through border trade with the above three countries."
"But the problem is that I don't have the final say in Dire Dawa City. I also have to consider the attitude of the military. And if we want to develop foreign trade, we need the approval of the central government. It's easy to deal with other regions, but it may not be so easy for us in Dire Dawa City!"
“Mr. Mayor, everything depends on human efforts. Dire Dawa used to be a complete military town, so naturally there was no need to consider the issue of economic development. Now Dire Dawa has been formed, and an important role of the municipal government is to develop the local economy.
This is an important change, which shows that Dire Dawa has changed from a military city to a normal dual-use city. Under this premise, things that were not allowed before do not mean that they cannot be done now. This is a relaxation of the policy. We only need to submit our suggestions to the central government, and we will naturally wait for the response from above as to the results. This is not something you should worry about. "
Helaine: "What you said makes sense. Dire Dawa is indeed different now than before. This should be a kind of confidence supported by national strength. After all, there are probably not many forces that dare to go to war directly with East Africa. The national defense pressure in the border area has been greatly reduced."
“So what we couldn’t do before may have changed now. If we throw this problem to the central government, the responsibility will not be on us in the end. Instead, it can improve the reputation of Dire Dawa City in front of the central government.”
This is also the advantage of Dire Dawa. As a military stronghold, it can directly communicate with the central government without going through the Northern Provincial Government.
(End of this chapter)
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