Chapter 985 The First Road and Bridge
If economic and social factors are not taken into account, the size and corresponding steel output of East Africa and Tsarist Russia should not be so far apart between the United States and Germany. East Africa is understandable It turns out that after all, the development history is short, and the current high-speed rail output reaching the fourth place in the world is already a very good achievement.
Tsarist Russia has no shortage of resources, especially in the early stage of industrialization. The resources are richer than those in East Africa. East Africa has overtaken Tsarist Russia. The difference between the two is that East Africa can use state power to control East Africa’s minerals, energy, and land resources. Integrate.
Of course, there are also conditions created by the opportunities of the times. Since the 1880s, East Africa has become one of the world's largest countries with infrastructure. In the 1990s, it surpassed the United States and became the world's largest. Infrastructure development in the fields of roads, water conservancy networks, urban construction, railways, etc. has ushered in an explosive period. What supports East Africa's large-scale infrastructure is the fact that East Africa's population has taken shape and its population structure has matured.
Infrastructure construction has driven continued strong demand for steel, cement, wood, etc. This is one of the important internal reasons for the sudden rise of the East African steel industry.
Without the maturity of the demographic structure and breakthroughs in scale, East Africa will not be able to catch up with those established powers. Of course, the black labor force is also one of the important factors that cannot be ignored. The contribution of black people to East African infrastructure even exceeds that built by Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty. Civil servants serving under the Grand Canal.
Under the First Five-Year Plan, the steel production target set by East Africa is actually not too radical. At least under Ernst’s emphasis, the idea that man can conquer nature will not work in East Africa. The current steel production target set by East Africa The production expansion plan is completely within East Africa’s capabilities.
After ending the discussion on the steel industry, the East African government began to discuss the transportation industry. If it was in the 19th century, the focus of the East African government's discussion in the transportation field must have been the railway level.
However, as the national railway network in East Africa was basically formed in the 1890s, and with the development of the automobile industry, the importance of railways in the East African government has declined to a certain extent.
However, the decline in attention does not affect the fact that railways are still the leader in the field of transportation construction in East Africa.
Minister of Railways Andre said: "During the planned economy at the end of the 19th century, the goals set by our Ministry of Railways and the Planning Commission were in conflict, but the final data did not reach the optimistic data of our internal department, so combined with the previous Experience, under the guidance of the Planning Commission, the threshold set for railway construction tasks in East Africa during the First Five-Year Plan period is 50,000 "
"That is to say, during the First Five-Year Plan, we will complete a new railway plan of at least 50,000 kilometers, further improve the national railway network, and strive to build the world's second largest railway network after Europe and North America by 1905. The third largest railway network in the world, with a total railway mileage of close to or exceeding 150,000 kilometers."
"Except for a few. In addition to the construction of trunk line railways, the focus will be on the construction of intercity railway transportation, especially the construction of internal railways in the Dar es Salaam urban agglomeration and various industrial zones."
"At the same time, the construction of western railways will be carried out. This was our key work direction between 1901 and 1905. Although the western main line railway was relatively complete, it was still difficult to complete the railway network. In terms of network density, it is far from the central and eastern regions.”
“Under the guidance of the Planning Commission, our Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Transport intend to build a three-dimensional land bridge for railways, highways, and water transportation networks between the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. , this is our mid-term planning scenario to achieve unimpeded flow of people, logistics, and industries between the east and west coasts of East Africa.”
A continental bridge is generally a land passage connecting two oceans. It usually uses railways as its backbone. In fact, after the construction of the Central Railway was completed, it has actually become a continental bridge connecting the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.
This is the earliest continental bridge in the world, that is, the North American Continental Bridge built by the United States. Before the opening of the Panama Canal, the North American Continental Bridge played a significant role in improving the U.S. economy. In fact, due to the relatively narrow north-south distribution of East Africa's territory, there are currently two land bridges built in East Africa, namely the Central Railway and the Walvis Bay-Inhambane Railway. The East-West Line of the Central Railway is also known as It is the first continental bridge in East Africa, and the Walvis Bay-Inhambane Railway is known as the second continental bridge in East Africa. It is an important railway trunk line in East Africa connecting the two oceans.
In fact, the Northern Railway also has the potential to form a land bridge in the future, but it needs to connect with western Belgium or French and German colonies. According to the situation in East Africa, currently Belgium and France, Germany had no idea of building even an inch of railway in its colonies bordering East Africa.
It is mainly a colony of the three countries close to East Africa. The climate is too complex. It is the core area of the African tropical rainforest climate, with dense wetlands and rainforests, and sparsely populated areas.
The well-developed local river network is also an important reason why the three countries do not plan to build subway railways near their East African colonies. After all, relying on ships can basically penetrate into the hinterland of each country's colonies, and there is no need to build railways.
Furthermore, except for Belgium, which is more interested in Congo, France does not pay much attention to Gabon, or Germany does not pay much attention to Cameroon. The two colonies are inherently weak in development, have a small population, and have low output. , if we build any more railways, we may not be able to recoup the cost in the next few decades.
After all, when building railways in colonies, raw materials such as steel can only be purchased from the mainland or East Africa. The cost of railway construction will directly double. If railways are really built in colonies, it will be taken advantage of.
If it is a colony like India, building some railways can recover costs and make profits quickly. However, the colonies of Belgium, Germany and France in the Congo rainforest basin have a total population of less than two million. The number of Chinese immigrants introduced to Belgium is only a few hundred thousand, and the populations of the German and French colonies cannot be too large.
Of course, they may also have considerations for maintaining the security of their own colonies. After all, East Africa is such a giant next to it. If the railway is really connected, wouldn't it be convenient for East Africa to directly invade and occupy the colonies of the three countries?
Not to mention them, even this local snake in East Africa will try to avoid the Congolese rainforest when building domestic railways. At present, in addition to the Hesse, Cabinda and Kinshasa railways, the only rainforest railway project confirmed for construction is the Bangui railway.
The Bangui Railway is one of the key projects in the development of the new western part of East Africa and is an extension of the Atlantic Coast Railway.
Minister Liu Yidwell of the Ministry of Transportation followed Andre’s words and said: “For the construction of the first continental bridge in East Africa, our Ministry of Transportation focuses on the construction of roads and waterways. The East African Grand Canal plan is currently under development. The program will be launched and is expected to be launched in 19 The entire line should be completed before 2005, so it can also be used as one of the key projects of the First Five-Year Plan. At the same time, we plan to build several small-scale canals with the water conservancy department in the west during the First Five-Year Plan. "
"As for the project. Highway construction, currently I The new focus in the field of transportation construction in the country. With the increase of motor vehicles in the country, the requirements for roads are getting higher and higher, and our domestic roads in East Africa still have many gravel roads and even mud roads. ”
“ Therefore, in the construction of the first major road and bridge, we plan to complete the renovation of 30% of the first-class highways in the central and eastern regions during the First Five-Year Plan period. At the same time, we will focus on the construction of western highways, and all of them will be constructed in accordance with hardened highway standards, including asphalt. Pavement accounts for at least 20%.”
If the three-dimensional transportation network of the First Continental Bridge is constructed, the connection between the east and west of East Africa will inevitably become more compact before the end of 1905, which will also promote the development of the Rhine City, the capital of the East African country in the center, and the entire central region.
(End of this chapter)