Chapter 1036 Railway Second Five-Year Plan
Steel production was an important reference data for a country’s national strength from the 19th to the early 20th century. As the food of industry, steel production can measure the scale of a country’s industrial and infrastructure construction. , which is also the main reason why the steel industry was ranked first when East Africa set up its industrial development plan.
As a powerful country, it is undeniable that East Africa has achieved amazing results in many fields, but its steel production can reflect that the current East African industry still has a long way to go, although East Africa’s steel production ranks third. Or fourth, but among the top countries, East Africa has the lowest steel share per capita.
This shows that there is still a lot of room for improvement in the scale of East Africa's steel industry. It also reflects that there is a big gap between East Africa's current industrialization level and advanced industrial countries. Therefore, during the Second Five-Year Plan period, East Africa's steel industry will continue to improve Production capacity is the constant goal.
Ernst concluded: "The steel industry provides the most basic production raw materials for all walks of life, including railways, shipbuilding manufacturing, automobile manufacturing, power equipment manufacturing, construction, engineering construction, etc. A large amount of steel is needed, so steel production is an important part of restricting the development of other industries. In the stage of accelerating industrialization in my country, steel companies must provide more steel production for national construction.”
"At the same time, as the times progress, East Africa also needs more special, high-quality, and diverse steel materials. This is particularly important for the development of emerging industries and the defense industry. Therefore, the upgrading of the steel industry must not only pursue quantity, but also quality. , grasp the balance between quantity and quality, and promote the reasonable development of the national steel industry.”
After talking about the development direction of the steel industry, according to usual practice, railway construction still ranks second, and the Ministry of Railways still ranks second. The national railway construction plan during the First Five-Year Plan period was summarized.
Andre, Minister of Railways, said: “In the past thirty years, our country has built a total of approximately 150,000 kilometers of railways, of which 50,000 kilometers were completed during the First Five-Year Plan. During this period, my country's railway construction speed accelerated significantly, reaching an average of 10,000 kilometers per year. "
"In the world, the railway construction situation is second only to that of the United States. According to the data we collected, it was only from 1880 to 1890. In the past 10 years, the United States has built more than 10,000 kilometers of railways every year. "
"During my country's First Five-Year Plan, the performance of the U.S. railway construction field is still strong, so my country's railway construction tasks still have a long way to go. "< br>
Putting aside the abnormality of the United States, the construction of East African railways is not inferior to any other country. However, since the beginning of the 20th century, East African railways are no longer satisfied with comparisons with countries, but with regional comparisons.
Especially North America and Europe, the two largest railway networks in the world. Through the acceleration of the First Five-Year Plan, the total mileage of East African railways still ranks behind North America and Europe, making it the third largest railway network in the world.
Andre said: "Our country's territory is much larger than that of the United States, and it does not have high-quality waterways like the Great Lakes or the Mississippi River, and it cannot be compared with Europe's dense inland waterway network. Therefore, theoretically speaking, my country’s demand for railways is much higher than that of European and American countries.”
“In my country’s railway construction, the central and southern parts are much higher than the northern part, including the central part. Between the west coast and the east coast, my country has the most developed economy and industry, and the most densely populated area. Because of its rich mineral resources, a large number of railway lines have been built in the south. "
This is normal, regardless of the population in the north of East Africa. , the urban density, the level of economic development, or the distribution of mineral resources are obviously inferior to other regions in East Africa, so it is normal for the northern railways to be relatively sparse.
“At present, in the railway construction in the northern region, in addition to the three trunk railways, there are only two important branch railways, one reaching the border of the Abyssinian Empire and our country, and one reaching the Nile Basin. In addition, there are only a few minor branch lines in northwest Somalia. Railway. "
"The north has the longest land border in our country, and there are many countries in the north, and the situation in the north is complicated. The lack of railway construction in the country is a major security risk for East Africa's national defense security. "
What Andre said is a bit annoying for the countries or colonies in northern East Africa. As the only country on the African continent. The infrastructure maniac, in the north where Andre said there is a lack of railway construction, its transportation is not comparable to any country or colony on the African continent, other than East Africa.
Among the countries bordering East Africa, Egypt is the most economically developed, but Egypt has very little demand for railways. After all, Egypt’s core land is basically distributed along the Nile River. To put it bluntly, along the Nile River Building a railway can basically meet most of Egypt's needs. The area bordering Egypt and East Africa is mainly Sudan, and there is not even an inch of railway track in Sudan. This is still the case in Egypt. Among other countries bordering East Africa, only the Abyssinian Empire and the Kingdom of South Germany have very few railway lines. , and the railway between the two countries is also an overseas extension of the East African railway network.
According to the situation in the previous life, even if the East African railway does not develop now, by the next century, other regions in Africa, except North Africa along the Mediterranean, may not have many additional railways.
So what Andre said about threats to national security should be understood conversely. East Africa is the biggest threat to neighboring countries and colonies.
Of course, national defense security requires caution. No one can say that the neighboring countries of East Africa may stand up and call the shots in the future, although this possibility is lower than the probability of aliens invading the earth.
“In order to meet the needs of social and economic development in the north and the needs of national defense and security, during the Second Five-Year Plan period, the Ministry of Railways plans to improve railway construction in the northern region.”
“During the Second Five-Year Plan period , the overall goal of my country’s railway construction is still to reach 50,000 kilometers, which means that when the Second Five-Year Plan is completed, the national railways will reach at least 200,000 kilometers.”
"At the same time, we will optimize and upgrade some railway lines, continue to build the African continental bridge, connect the economic connections between the east and west coasts and the inland, promote the national regional industrial division of labor and cooperation, and promote the continuous progress of East Africa's industrialization process."
II. During the Fifth Plan period, railway construction in East Africa still adopted a relatively conservative plan. After all, with the completion of the First Five-Year Plan, East Africa's industrial and infrastructure capabilities have greatly improved, and it is fully capable of building more railways.
Of course, even if it is a conservative plan, from a global perspective, it is more conservative than American railway companies. The 50,000-kilometer railway construction plan is almost equivalent to building another German railway.
Germany is already the most developed railway country in Europe. According to the railway construction situation in East Africa, excluding some areas that are difficult to develop in East Africa, such as deserts in the southwest and northeast, tropical rainforests in the west, some mountains and large lakes, etc. , when the Second Five-Year Plan is completed, the gap between East Africa and the entire European railway network is basically negligible.
And the internal situation of the European railway network is complicated. For example, countries such as Tsarist Russia and Northern Europe adopt different railway gauges. This makes the European railway mileage longer than that of East Africa, but the utilization efficiency is not necessarily higher than that of East Africa.
Of course, the current total population and economy of East Africa are far from being comparable to Europe as a whole. However, economic development factors have led to the flow of people and logistics. The economic benefits of European railways are definitely higher than those of East Africa.
The population of Europe is more than four times that of East Africa, and the area of East Africa is also larger than that of Europe. In addition, many European countries have extremely developed industries, which is destined to make the East African Railway unable to match the revenue in a short period of time. Europe forms competition.
In this era, the United States can compete with Europe, but even the United States is still far behind Europe as a whole. Therefore, East Africa’s industrial development has a long way to go. Now East Africa can only compete with Europe in terms of industry and national strength. Compare a single country in Europe.
(End of this chapter)