Chapter 869 New Frankfurt City
As for why BASF did not directly choose Bulawayo or Nairobi to directly open a branch factory, the reason is very simple. East Africa only opens coastal areas, and inland areas are not accessible.
Furthermore, the industrial configuration in the inland areas is basically dominated by East African state-owned enterprises. In fact, various industrial sectors in the inland areas are complete, but their strength is poor. In order to prevent them from being directly impacted by foreign capital, effective barriers have been established It is still a feasible measure. At the same time, it can directly compete with foreign-invested enterprises in coastal areas, so as not to be trapped by the environment and not want to make progress.
Under the premise of having a moat, competition can be maintained to maintain vitality. As long as it is done properly, the basic foundation of East African industry can be invincible.
This kind of operation method in East Africa was not prominent in the 19th century, because even the United States and the United States would protect their domestic industries from external impacts in the form of tariff barriers, especially the Junkers of Germany. For the sake of economic interests, they even opposed the dilution of relations between Germany and Tsarist Russia, which caused Tsarist Russia to move closer to the Allies during World War I.
Of course, East Africa also has similar policies, but East Africa can bypass commercial grain agriculture and shift to tropical cash crop agriculture to avoid direct competition. In this field, only Brazil and the Caribbean countries can compete with East Africa.
As for India, although it is a tropical country, it has too many people and needs to ensure basic food and clothing. It is impossible to fully compete with East Africa. Moreover, India only has a land area of three million square kilometers, even compared with Brazil. The difference is too big, and as a British colony, it has no autonomy and low productivity. The British prioritize India's low labor costs in various fields instead of improving India's agricultural technology level. The same is true for Brazil. The Brazilian market is basically controlled by foreign capital. , it is difficult to do anything for the time being.
Southeast Asia, where tropical cash crops were most prosperous in the past, has just started and is not yet able to form strong competitiveness.
……
New Frankfort.
New Frankfurt City is also known as Kapirim Poshi in Zambia in its previous life. Since being upgraded to a city, New Frankfurt City has developed rapidly, which is more consistent with its status as the largest railway hub in East Africa.
Ernst also went directly to New Frankfurt after inspecting the industrial development of Mbeya City.
The current temperature in New Frankfurt is only about 24 degrees. As soon as he stepped out of the carriage, Ernst felt very comfortable.
In fact, ever since he entered the East African Plateau, Ernst has felt that the inland areas are more livable than the first towns. If it were not for the excessive allocation of railways, then this trip would be perfect.
“Since the upgrade of New Frankfurt City, the population has now increased to more than 80,000 people. The Central Railway, especially the North-South Line, has gathered the largest industrial city in East Africa in the north and south of New Frankfurt City, so the development of New Frankfurt City Very rapidly, especially the equipment manufacturing and transportation industries, and the food processing industry are the three pillar industries of the local area.”
After hearing this, Ernst affirmed the work of the city of Frankfurt over the years. After all, the original Kapirimposhi was just a small town, and it was not easy to develop to the scale it is today.
Kapirim Poshi was also Zambia’s railway transportation hub in its previous life, but it was not very conspicuous in Zambian cities. Of course, this is due to the transportation construction situation in Zambia.
In the previous life, Kapirim Poshi was only the terminus of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, while the Central Railway of East Africa spans two oceans from east to west, reaching directly from north to south to the edge of the Azande Plateau and the port city of New Hamburg on the southeast coast. The driving role it plays is unparalleled, and there is a string of copper mining belt cities in the north, there are also two large cities in Lusaka and Kabwe in the south, and further south is directly Matabele Province.
Situated in the middle of these cities, New Frankfurt City cannot develop slowly even if it wants to. In the future, when the development of Angola is completed, the regional conditions of New Frankfurt City will be even more prominent.
Ernst then visited the local urban construction situation under the leadership of the New Frankfurt City Government. The urban development of New Frankfurt City relied on both sides of the railway. After the train entered New Frankfurt City, Ernst had a clear understanding of the local infrastructure construction. A certain understanding, but these are superficial scenes.
Ernst first visited the local factory construction situation. Benefiting from the railway hub, New Frankfurt is not a resource-based city, but there is no shortage of various raw materials. The manufacturing industry is relatively developed, and copper in the north is After rough processing, the ore becomes semi-finished products such as copper ingots, which are further processed by the city of New Frankfurt, as are resources such as iron ore.
“Our city’s next step is to strive for the establishment of the electric power industry in New Frankfurt. Previously, the most developed electric power industry was Mbeya City, Swabia and Hohenzollern Provinces. The resources of the two provinces Export to Mbeya City and then make it into electricity products. Our New Frankfurt City is optimistic about the future of electricity and also intends to become a One of the important cities in the regional power industry. ”
The reason for mentioning Mbeya is that Mbeya has a high level of power technology. In East Africa, it is basically the only city with Dar es Salaam and Mombasa. In comparison, most other cities are in the second tier, including Lusaka and Harare in the south and Lubumbashi in the north.
Ernst naturally supports the idea of a new Frankfurt city: "The electric power industry is a strategic industry in East Africa. Not only can it develop electric power, I think you can also develop the automobile industry, and it can also cooperate with surrounding cities. With division of labor and cooperation, the entire automobile industry chain is a large project. Each component can be produced in advantageous areas, and New Frankfurt is a transportation hub. The components can be concentrated and mainly assembled and processed, and then transported across the country via railways.”
"Of course, whether it is the automobile industry or the electric power industry, paying attention to research and development issues is the key. You cannot just rely on reference. For example, the appearance, interior, configuration, etc. of the car must be carefully designed to continuously improve comfort and practicality."
“At the same time, we must pay attention to production safety, especially in the context of the current vigorous popularization of electricity in East Africa. If electricity is used improperly, it is very dangerous, so you must popularize the safety knowledge of electricity use to prevent accidents.”< br>
After the popularization of the electric power industry, industrial and residential electricity consumption in East Africa has increased significantly, and the popularization of power safety knowledge is also particularly important, especially after the high-voltage transmission system is put into use.
However, this is a very long process. After all, it is the 21st century, and many people still ignore this issue. In the 19th century, it was even more difficult to popularize power safety knowledge.
East Africa is pretty good, with a high penetration 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 to be a big problem for the time being. .
Of course, although there are more and more electric 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 electricity safety knowledge among the people across the country.
After all, according to the current power development situation in East Africa, I am afraid that in thirty years even remote rural areas will be able to connect to the power grid. Now, cities in China and the east have begun to use electricity on a large scale, and some rural areas in the east have also begun to use electricity on a large scale. Start installing electrical products such as lights.
(End of this chapter)