African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1073: Major Changes in Transportation
The national economy of East Africa is currently mainly supported by these seven urban agglomerations. According to Ernst's opinion, the future industrial development of East Africa will still revolve around these seven urban agglomerations.

Although East African industries are concentrated in these seven major regions, they also reflect the coordination of regional economic development by the East African central government.

Although not as good as Germany, compared with other powerful countries, the industrial distribution in East Africa is relatively balanced. This is actually closely related to the topography, resource distribution and transportation pattern of East African countries.

The balanced distribution of German industry is inseparable from these factors. German industry is mostly distributed in river valleys and other terrains and cannot be concentrated like the United States or France. And due to historical reasons, the country's overall economic structure was established as early as the era when there were many states.

Although the overall terrain of East Africa is relatively flat, it is divided into several plateaus, coastal plains, and basins. This makes the economy and population of East Africa present the current distribution effect. However, the area of ​​these regions is relatively moderate. For example, the East African Plateau is nearly one million square kilometers, which is neither large nor small compared to the territory of East Africa. No geographical unit in the main territory of East Africa can have an absolute advantage.

If it was in the early days of East Africa, it would naturally be concentrated in the East African Plateau, because at that time the core territory of East Africa was centered on the East African Plateau. However, with the rapid expansion of East Africa's land area, the East African Plateau no longer has this condition.

……

After analyzing the overall national economic structure, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Railways began to summarize the work of the two departments during the Second Five-Year Plan.

During the Second Five-Year Plan, the East African Railway continued to develop at a high speed, reaching a length of 200,000 kilometers, consolidating East Africa's position as the world's second largest railway network, but the status of railways in national transportation declined.

Minister of Transport Lasher said: "In the past few years, the national railway network has been relatively complete, with a total railway mileage of 200,000 kilometers. Highways have developed more rapidly and accounted for an increasing proportion of transportation, even becoming competitive with railways."

Before the development of automobiles, the advantage of railway transportation over land transportation was almost unshakable. However, the automobile industry in East Africa is booming now, and East Africa is rapidly developing into an automobile power, thus creating strong competitive pressure on railways.

"By 1909, my country had million cars. During the Second Five-Year Plan, the annual output was million. Next year, my country's car ownership will exceed million. Since the end of the First Five-Year Plan, the annual output of cars in East Africa has been maintained at more than one million vehicles."

"This has a huge impact on the transportation industry. Automobile transportation is more flexible than rail, especially in medium and short-distance transportation, where automobiles have undoubted advantages."

The strong position of East Africa's automobile manufacturing industry will be difficult to be overthrown by other countries in a short period of time. For reference, at the end of World War I in the previous life, there were more than five million passenger cars registered in the United States, so the number of cars in the United States at that time should be above this number, but it is impossible to exceed the current level in East Africa.

Currently, the production cost of automobiles in East Africa has been suppressed to less than 2000 Rhine guilders. Cars have changed from a luxury item to a necessary and common means of transportation in East Africa. It should be noted that the population of East Africa at that time was only more than million, which means that most families in East Africa can afford cars.

"Nowadays, cars are very common all over the country. Whether in cities or rural areas, cars have become the most common means of travel and transportation. Even in the most remote cities, there are cars."

"This is inseparable from the vigorous development of my country's road transportation. By 1909, the total mileage of my country's hardened roads reached more than million kilometers, basically meeting the country's transportation needs."

"It is no exaggeration to say that highway transportation has replaced railways as the number one mode of transportation in my country, and has also become a strong driving force for my country's oil production and imports." Lasher continued, "At the same time, the scale of my country's inland waterway and sea transportation is also expanding rapidly. During the Second Five-Year Plan, the number of navigable river sections in my country's inland waterway increased by 25% compared to the First Five-Year Plan. Although it is not as good as railway and highway transportation, it has also made great progress. In terms of sea transportation, the main thing is that the construction of ports in coastal areas has been increasingly improved, which has greatly improved my country's shipping service capabilities."

Through two five-year plans, East Africa's modern transportation has made great progress, and this progress is indeed made possible by the bones of millions of black laborers. A large number of black laborers participated in the construction of roads and canals, which is one of the reasons for the rapid decline in the population of black people in East Africa.

Compared with Lasher's high spirits, the railway department is more discouraged. As Lasher said, although the East African railway has achieved brilliant results in the past decade, it is not entirely true in East Africa itself. The main reason is that the development of road and water transportation has posed a huge challenge to railway transportation.

Of course, the Ministry of Railways could not imagine at that time that in the future they would encounter another challenger that was no less inferior to roads, that is, aviation. Today, East Africa's aircraft manufacturing technology is advancing rapidly. In Ernst's vision, even if the scale of East Africa's aviation industry cannot reach the astonishing proportion like that of the United States, it will not be too bad.

It was precisely because of his understanding of the development of transportation modes such as roads and aviation that Ernst restricted the blind and radical development of the country's railways like in the United States and European countries before the First Five-Year Plan.

This is undoubtedly correct. Today, road transportation has already formed a strong competitiveness against railways, and the scale of road transportation is still expanding rapidly.

Of course, although the competition brought by roads and other modes of transportation has made the Ministry of Railways somewhat frustrated, it is undeniable that the advantages of railways make it impossible for them to be completely replaced.

Minister of Railways Yuris said: "From the first five-year plan to the second five-year plan, my country's railways expanded by nearly double the national railways in the entire 19th century. During the two five-year plans, kilometers of railways were newly built. The leading position in the national transportation mode is still irreplaceable. It plays a role in connecting major cities in the country and undertakes the main task of transporting bulk commodities such as timber, grain, and minerals. It also plays a huge role in national defense."

“At the same time, the Ministry of Railways actively promoted railway technology innovation during the Second Five-Year Plan, including railway information systems and locomotives.”

"Although roads and other modes of transportation have emerged, the role of railways in long-distance transportation across the country cannot be replaced, even by water transport, which is the cheapest option."

Ernst affirmed: "Railways play a huge role in the transportation industry. Although roads and other modes of transportation have risen rapidly and replaced railways to a certain extent, as long as they are properly arranged, railways will not decline. I have said long ago that the national railway mileage is expected to be about 300,000 kilometers. Although it is not as long as the United States, it is enough."

The length of U.S. railways has reached an astonishing 400,000 kilometers. One thing that cannot be ignored is that the mainland United States is several million square kilometers smaller than the mainland East Africa, so the density of U.S. railways is greatly superior to that of East Africa.

However, this advantage is only for the time being. When the Panama Canal opens in about four years, American railways will face a major crisis, especially rail freight connecting the two oceans. Many may choose to take a detour via the Panama Canal.

Moreover, although the U.S. automobile industry has been severely impacted by East Africa, it is also booming. Once U.S. road traffic develops to the level of East Africa today, this will cause a second impact on U.S. railways. Of course, the premise is that U.S. railways cannot make timely adjustments.

(End of this chapter)