Chapter 1050 Industrial Exploration of Iringa City
Iringa City.
As an ordinary city with little presence in East Africa, the Iringa Municipal Government’s exploration of industrial development during the Second Five-Year Plan was relatively difficult.
Iringa City has almost no special resources. Although there are some small minerals in the territory, there is currently no development value.
So the Iringa city government has no idea how to develop industry. For this reason, Mayor Randall held a special meeting to find the city's industrial development path.
Randall first set the tone and said: "Now the national industrial construction is in full swing. During the First Five-Year Plan, our city made great achievements and established the most basic industries such as flour processing, cotton spinning, and oil extraction. However, during the Second Five-Year Plan, , It is impossible for us to continue to achieve results on this track, because almost all cities and towns across the country are making a fuss about these primary industries.”
“This also led to the rapid development of my country’s industry during the First Five-Year Plan, because. The gaps in many fields were filled during the First Five-Year Plan, and doing so again during the Second Five-Year Plan is obviously not conducive to the city's industry and the competition of other cities."
"The city government's funds are limited, and the country's funds are limited. Most of the industrial construction funds in the country have been invested in central or provincial state-owned enterprises, concentrated in big cities. Without strong financial support from the central government, we in Yiringa can only prioritize the development of some industrial categories that we are good at and have low thresholds. "
"The main crops in our city are wheat and tobacco, and other crops are almost negligible. However, these two crops are too common in East Africa. Iringa City is not a major industrial and mining city, which means that Due to the difficulties of industrial development in our city, especially heavy industry, our city’s foundation is quite weak, so everyone is thinking of ways to continue to increase the industrial scale of our city on the basis of the First Five-Year Plan.”
For the city. In the long run, Iringa city government officials will also feel a headache. Industrial development during the First Five-Year Plan was relatively easy. As long as the plan is followed, most towns can achieve good industrial development achievements.
However, the Second Five-Year Plan is obviously different from the First Five-Year Plan. One thing to be clear is that before the First Five-Year Plan, most cities in East Africa also had industrial accumulation. During the First Five-Year Plan, the central government took the lead, and each town realized the industrial resources of its own city. integration.
Some towns lack important resources for industrial development, but no matter how poor the conditions are, there is still no problem in developing primary food processing and agricultural product processing.
During the First Five-Year Plan, the resources of these industries have been integrated to a certain extent, which has greatly increased the industrial scale of East Africa. However, this also requires that industrial development must find a new way out during the Second Five-Year Plan.
Following Randall’s speech, Iringa city government officials were all lost in thinking, and this obviously had a certain effect.
Hemes, director of the Industrial and Commercial Bureau of Iringa City, said: "Mayor, I have a little opinion on industrial development. We may have fallen into a misunderstanding of industrial development resources."
Hearing what Hermes said, of course aroused Randall's interest. He said: "Speak freely. As long as it can help improve the industrial level of our city, no matter what the idea is, you can use it as a reference."
After receiving Randall's approval, Hermes clarified her thoughts and then said: "In the past, when we thought about industrial development, we paid too much attention to the support of higher-level governments, or too much emphasis on the city's benefits. resources, but the problem is that among East African cities, Iringa is not necessarily ranked high even in the province. Therefore, the development of our city cannot rely too much on policies and support. At the same time, Iringa lacks the ability to develop industry. Mineral resources, this also means that we cannot rely on mineral resources for development like other cities.”
Among more than 600 cities in East Africa, Iringa City’s industrial level can only be ranked in the middle and upper reaches, which is almost the same. There are just over 200 people, so it is difficult for Iringa City to attract the attention of the East African government. However, Iringa is ranked relatively high because of its early development history and its location along the Central Railway. Hermes continued: "So the development experience of other cities in East Africa, especially those with strong industry, is not necessarily suitable for us."
"Take traffic conditions as an example. Although our city is connected to railways, and they are trunk lines, our city is just an ordinary city on the central railway, not a transportation hub. Therefore, the development path of New Frankfurt City and our provincial capital Dodoma City is obviously not suitable for Iringa. At the same time, our city is not a coastal city and is destined to be more restricted in economic development.”
“Not to mention mineral resources. Our city has no coal mines or iron ores, and also lacks other more important minerals. Therefore, industrial and mining cities such as Mbeya developed based on mining resources and became the earliest heavy industry base in our country. "
"So if our city wants to develop, we can't take the conventional path. We can't compete with those cities."
Randall nodded and said: "You said, We naturally understand that the problem is how to develop without taking the conventional path."
Hermes said unhurriedly: "In the past, our country attached great importance to the development of heavy industry and defense industry, and light industry has not been given much attention. Although the development of light industry has made great progress during the Second Five-Year Plan, in my opinion, it has great potential and there is still a lot of room for improvement."
"Hemes, you mean to develop light industry. , but the central government also did this during the Second Five-Year Plan. Isn't this the same? Our city has laid out the light industry during the Second Five-Year Plan, and upgraded state-owned flour mills, cotton textile factories, cigarette factories, etc. "Someone asked back.
Hemes shook her head in response to other people's doubts and said: "This level of industry is completely insufficient. Light industry cannot be solved by just a few factories related to food, clothing, housing and transportation."
"Just take flour mills. Said, I have a special understanding of the city's face Flour processing companies can only produce the most basic flour products, but there are many flour-related industries. This is most typical in Europe, such as large and small bakery workshops in Europe, and others such as biscuits, snacks, etc. are far away. Without flour, some factories have been able to Now we are producing on a large scale, so we can rely on flour mills to expand into other light industrial categories. Bread may not be possible, but biscuits and some easy-to-store snacks can definitely be set up with related factories.”
Bread is the most important to Europeans. staple food, Big changes have taken place in East Africa. The daily pasta types in East Africa are diversified. Bread, steamed buns, sesame cakes, pancakes, scones, etc. exist at the same time. Therefore, Hermes is not very interested in bread production, at least in East Africa. The market is not as easy to sell as in European and American countries.
“In this way, the industrial chain will increase, and at the same time, the industry will naturally increase. Take biscuits as an example, the market prospect is quite good, it is durable in storage, easy to transport, and tastes good. , our city can completely establish related food enterprises, and no investment is required "It's too big."
Randall nodded and said: "It makes sense. We also have biscuit manufacturers in East Africa. However, there are few biscuit varieties and small quantities on the market. There is indeed a certain room for development, so The biscuit industry is indeed a relatively safe industry.”
Hermes said: "That's it. Now our country's industrialized food processing field is concentrated in the primary stage. Many agricultural products are directly sold abroad after initial processing, but the field of terminal consumer goods is still a blue ocean. If our city can focus on this It is quite beneficial to the industrial development of our city.”
“People’s needs are diverse, and everyone has different preferences. my country's food industry is relatively homogeneous. If our city can develop products that meet the needs of its people based on the needs of its own market, then sales will naturally not be a problem. By improving the ingredients and taste of food, our products will become more popular, and we will It can occupy more markets and promote the development of the city's industry."
(End of this chapter)