Chapter 869 New Frankfurt City

As for why BASF did not choose Bulawayo or Nairobi to directly open branches, the reason is very simple. East Africa only opens coastal areas, and inland areas cannot enter.

Moreover, the industrial configuration of inland areas is basically dominated by East African state-owned enterprises. In fact, the various industrial sectors in the inland areas are complete, but the strength is relatively weak. In order to prevent them from being directly impacted by foreign capital, effective barriers are still feasible measures. At the same time, they can directly compete with foreign-funded enterprises in coastal areas, so as not to be trapped by the environment and not make progress.

On the premise of having a moat, competition can be formed to maintain vitality. As long as the operation is proper, the basic plate of East African industry can be invincible.

This operation method in East Africa was not outstanding in the 19th century, because even the United States and Germany would protect their industries from external shocks in the form of tariff barriers, especially the German Junker aristocracy, who even opposed the easing of Germany's relationship with Tsarist Russia for economic interests, causing Tsarist Russia to lean towards the Allies during World War I.

Of course, East Africa also has similar policies, but East Africa can bypass commodity grain agriculture and turn to tropical cash crop agriculture to avoid direct competition. In this field, only Brazil and the Caribbean coastal countries can compete with East Africa.

As for India, although it is a tropical country, India has too many people and must ensure basic food and clothing. It is impossible to compete with East Africa with all its strength. Moreover, India has only three million square kilometers of land, which is far behind Brazil. Moreover, as a British colony, it has no autonomy and low productivity. Britain gives priority to India's low labor costs in various fields rather than improving India's agricultural technology level. The same is true for Brazil. Brazil's market is basically controlled by foreign capital and it is difficult to achieve anything for the time being.

Southeast Asia, where tropical cash crops were the most prosperous in the previous life, is just starting now and cannot form strong competitiveness.

…

New Frankfurt City.

New Frankfurt City is Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia in the previous life. Since it was upgraded to a city, New Frankfurt City has developed rapidly, which complements its status as the largest railway hub in East Africa.

After inspecting the industrial development of Mbeya, Ernst went directly to New Frankfurt.

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, since entering the East African Plateau, Ernst has felt that the inland area is more livable than the first town. If it weren't for the excessive allocation on the railway, this trip would be perfect.

"Since the upgrade of New Frankfurt, the population has 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, so New Frankfurt has developed very rapidly, especially the equipment manufacturing industry and transportation industry. Food processing industry is the three major pillar industries in the local area."

After listening, Ernst affirmed the work of Frankfurt in recent years. After all, the original Kapiri Mposhi was just a small town, and it was not easy to develop to this scale today.

In the previous life, Kapiri Mposhi was also a railway transportation hub in Zambia, but it was not very eye-catching among Zambian cities. Of course, this has a very important reason for the transportation construction in Zambia.

In the past, Kapiri Mposhi was only the end of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, while the Central Railway of East Africa crisscrossed the two oceans from east to west, and directly reached the edge of the Azande Plateau and the port city of New Hamburg on the southeast coast.

The driving role it played was unparalleled, and there was a string of copper belt cities in the north, and two major cities, Lusaka and Kabwe, in the south, and directly to Matabele Province further south.

Located between these cities, it is impossible for New Frankfurt to develop slowly, and in the future, after the development of Angola is completed, the regional conditions of New Frankfurt will be more prominent.

Then, under the leadership of the New Frankfurt Municipal Government, Ernst visited the local urban construction. The urban area of ​​New Frankfurt relied on both sides of the railway for development. After the train entered New Frankfurt, Ernst had a certain understanding of the local infrastructure construction, but these were all superficial scenes.

Ernst first visited the local factory construction. Thanks to the railway hub, although New Frankfurt is not a resource-based city, it is not short of various raw materials and has a relatively developed manufacturing industry. The copper mines in the north become semi-finished products such as copper ingots after rough processing, and New Frankfurt further processes them. The same is true for resources such as iron ore.

"Our city will strive to land the power industry in New Frankfurt in the next step. Previously, the most developed power industry was in Mbeya, Swabia and Hohenzollern. The resources of the two provinces were exported to Mbeya and then made into power products. Our New Frankfurt is optimistic about the prospects of power and is also interested in becoming one of the important cities in the regional power industry."

The reason why Mbeya is mentioned simply is that Mbeya has a high level of power technology. In East Africa, only Dar es Salaam and Mombasa can compare with it. Most other cities are in the second echelon, including Lusaka in the south, Harare and Lubumbashi in the north.

Ernst naturally supports the idea of ​​the new Frankfurt city: "The power industry is a strategic industry in East Africa. You can not only develop power, but I think you can also develop the automobile industry, and you can cooperate with surrounding cities. The entire automobile industry chain is a big project. All parts can be produced in advantageous regions, and the new Frankfurt city is a transportation hub. You can concentrate the parts and focus on assembly and processing, and then transport them across the country by rail."

"Of course, whether it is the automobile industry or the power industry, focusing on research and development is the key, and we cannot rely solely on reference. For example, the appearance, interior, configuration, etc. of the car must be carefully considered to continuously improve comfort and practicality."

"At the same time, we must pay attention to production safety, especially in the context of East Africa's vigorous popularization of electricity. If electricity is not used reasonably, it is very dangerous, so you must popularize the safety knowledge of electricity use to prevent accidents."

After the popularization of the power industry, the industrial and residential electricity consumption in East Africa has increased significantly, and the popularization of power safety knowledge has become particularly important, especially after the high-voltage transmission system has been put into use.

However, this is a very long process. After all, even in the 21st century, many people still ignore this issue. In the 19th century, it was even more difficult to popularize power safety knowledge.

East Africa is still relatively good. The compulsory education popularization rate is high and the people have a high level of education. Therefore, there are some advantages in this regard. The acceptance level of the German people is not low. As for other countries, it seems difficult for the time being.

Of course, although there are more and more power facilities now, they are far from reaching the national popularization standard. Many cities do not even have electricity, but this does not affect East Africa's popularization of common sense of electricity use to the people across the country in terms of electricity safety.

After all, according to the current electricity development in East Africa, I am afraid that in thirty years, even remote rural areas will be able to have access to the power grid. Now, various cities in the east have begun to use electricity on a large scale, and some rural areas in the east have also begun to install power products such as electric lights.