Chapter 1183 Sahara Railway
Speaking of Dupin's company, it is relatively well-known in Mombasa. Its main business is to transport agricultural products from the Great Lakes region to Mombasa for export overseas.
However, compared with several grain trading giants of East African state-owned enterprises, Du Ping's small company has limited energy after all. Therefore, so far, Du Ping's grain trading company can only handle some poor countries in the Middle East or Europe. country’s orders.
Among them, several countries in the Italian peninsula are the most important business areas for Dupin. In addition to Teka, Dupin also knows many Italian businessmen and has business contacts.
Nowadays, the Italian peninsula is a relatively explosive region in Europe. Of the three countries on the peninsula, the Kingdom of Italy, which has the best economic situation, can only barely achieve self-sufficiency in food. This is still supported by the Red Sea colonies. case.
The situation in the Papal States and Naples is even worse. Naples has become one of the areas with the most serious population outflow in Europe and has made important contributions to the immigration cause of various countries in the Americas and East Africa.
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Small businessmen like Dupin are aware of the risks of today's trade between East Africa and Europe, and the East African government is naturally no exception.
June 29, 1915.
The East African government held another meeting specifically for this matter.
"Just in May this year, many of our ships were illegally stopped by British warships. This was the result of our escort of warships in the Atlantic direction."
"As for the Suez Canal, the British interception of our merchant ships The inspections are also stricter, and it is obvious that the British are deliberately obstructing our trade activities with the Allies," said John Lear, Minister of Commerce of East Africa, worriedly.
In comparison, the situation in the direction of Gibraltar is much better. After all, there is Spain in the direction of Gibraltar. Although the Port of Gibraltar is in the hands of the British, the Strait of Gibraltar is not completely controlled by the British like the Suez Canal.
Merck also said: "Now it seems that our trade in the Mediterranean is very passive. There are only two maritime trade channels between East Africa and Mediterranean countries. One is the Suez Canal and the other is the Strait of Gibraltar, both of which are under the surveillance of the British. ”
“So in order to broaden the security of our country’s trade routes, is it necessary to learn from Germany’s experience in building the Baghdad Railway through land transportation in North Africa and build several railways across the Sahara Desert directly from the southern shore of the Mediterranean? Go to sea.”
Merkel's bold idea has indeed aroused controversy among many people. As the world's largest desert, building a railway through the Sahara Desert would be an incredible project.
In fact, no one in East Africa has thought about building a railway in the Sahara, but this is the first time it has been discussed at a high-level meeting.
Sweite shook his head and said: "It is unimaginably difficult to build a railway in the Sahara Desert, and the cost is certainly unacceptable."
"The entire Sahara Desert does not have a large population. The desert terrain will inevitably increase the difficulty of selecting the route of this railway. I am afraid that the cost of building this railway will not be recovered in a hundred years."
Whether the railway can be profitable depends a lot on the economic conditions along the line. It has a big relationship, and most of the Sahara Desert is a deserted and barren land with no economic value at all. After all, there are no people, let alone the creation of economic value.
Ernst did not express his opinion directly, but asked Minister Andrei of the Ministry of Railways: "If it is possible to build this railway, will there be any technical problems that cannot be solved?"
< br>Minister Andre shook his head and said: "There should be difficulty, but it is not the decisive factor. After all, we have a lot of railway construction experience in Somalia and Southwest Africa, and the terrain conditions in Southwest Africa are much more complex than the Sahara Desert. It is not only a desert, The terrain there is more complex, with many mountains and canyons.”
“But we have still built many railways in Southwest Africa, so in theory there are no technically unsolvable problems in building the Saharan railway.” "However, as Duke Sweet said, the cost of building the Sahara Railway is too high, and I think it is not worth the gain."
"After all, the Sahara Desert is not our country's territory, and our territory in Southwest Africa is Railway construction is related to people’s livelihood, national defense, economy and other aspects, but for other countries in the Sahara Desert, we will definitely only consider economic value.”
The railways in Southwest Africa are of national defense and people's livelihood projects far higher than their economic value. What's more, Southwest Africa has a lot of mineral resources, so the construction of railways in Southwest Africa is a must for the East African government.
The Sahara Desert is different. In fact, Andre's words are not rigorous, that is, the Sahara Desert has some relationship with East Africa. For example, the city of Gezira in East Africa is also part of the Sahara Desert. , so East Africa not only has land in the Sahara Desert, but also a lot of it.
Of course, as the largest desert in the world, the territory of the Sahara Desert occupied by East Africa is just some marginal scraps, which is completely worthless compared with the main body of the Sahara Desert.
Merck said: "It may not be completely without value. This is mainly related to the choice of route. For example, if we choose Egyptian territory as the Sahara railway line, we can connect Egypt and East Africa."
“Imagine that starting from the city of Gezira to Alexandria in the north, this line can directly follow the Nile River, connecting all the core land of Egypt, so that we can pass through this Railway, strengthening the influence on Egypt’s hinterland economy”
"After all, Egypt's economy is still pretty good. If we choose the eastern route option, it will not be completely unprofitable for us, and we can go one step further in geostrategy."
This statement by Merk is very telling. However, Sweet poured cold water on it directly: "This plan is completely unfeasible. Let's not mention the trade between East Africa and Egypt. It is impossible to compete on the Red Sea route on land. The advantage of sea transportation is too great."
"What's more, Egypt is the British sphere of influence. Under this premise, it is impossible for us to build this railway at this stage."
Egypt will definitely be tempted to build this railway, but Egypt is not It is a sovereign country, but a semi-colony of the United Kingdom. Not to mention other things, the British control of Sudan at this stage is much higher than that of the Egyptian government. After all, Sudan was conquered by the British.
Andre also interjected: "The Red Sea route and the Sahara railway mentioned by Minister Merk can be said to be parallel routes, and the two are too close and the competition is too fierce. Without the Red Sea, we would Building this railway must be of great use, but the existence of the Red Sea makes it impossible for us to do such a thankless task unless..."
Unless East Africa wants to plot something against Egypt, although Andre did not finish speaking, most people have already guessed it.
After all, if a railway running through the core area of Egypt is in the hands of East Africa, it will basically declare Egypt to be completely reduced to an economic vassal of East Africa.
Of course, East Africa definitely does not have this idea now. The main reason is that it does not want to fall out with the United Kingdom. East Africa has always been cautious about Egypt.
However, Sweet believes that this railway can be used to "seduce" the Egyptian government, thereby putting pressure on Britain to make some concessions on the Suez Canal.
After all, losing Egypt means losing the Suez Canal. If East Africa builds a railway in Egypt, all aspects of the Egyptian economy will be affected by East Africa, thus threatening Britain's control of Egypt.
This is definitely not what the British want to see, so even if East Africa only wants to build this railway verbally, the British will strongly oppose it. After all, Egypt is too important to the British.
So Ernst said to the ministers: "We can use the Egyptian railway as a cover to get Britain to correct its attitude on the Red Sea route, so we should first contact the Egyptian government to publicize this plan. I think the British They will definitely make concessions to us.”
(End of this chapter)