African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1167 Engineering Miracle
Road transportation in East Africa has already formed a huge competition with railways, and this is when the potential for road construction in East Africa has not been fully stimulated.

As for inland water transport, as an obvious shortcoming of East African transportation, it has continued to develop in recent years and its market share has increased significantly, especially in several large lake basins in East Africa, forming a fairly developed regional water transport network.

Entering the 20th century, East Africa's inland shipbuilding industry also entered a period of rapid development, with a significant increase in the number of ships sailing on the Great Lakes, Lake Solon, Lake Malawi, the Congo River, the Zambezi River and other river basins, as well as East Africa's artificial canals.

Of course, it is difficult for Franz IV to have an intuitive understanding of this point, as most of the areas he has passed through currently avoid areas in East Africa where water transportation is well developed.

However, the brilliant achievements in railway and road construction in East Africa alone were enough to make Franz IV feel uneasy.

Looking at the magnificent new Frankfurt Central Station in front of him, Franz IV became very curious about the new city of Frankfurt.

Apart from the city of Rhine, this was his first time to visit a major city in East Africa in detail. Although he passed through Dar es Salaam and Mbeya along the way, they were only short stops. As for Dodoma, Iringa, and the First Town, although they were also quite spectacular and not inferior to European cities, the gap between them and the major cities in East Africa was still visible to the naked eye.

The city of New Frankfurt is obviously also one of the major cities in East Africa, which can be seen from the developed urban construction scale of New Frankfurt.

"I plan to stay in New Frankfurt for a few days to experience the details of your country's urban construction. I'll trouble you from now on." Franz IV said to Kobel.

"It is my honor and also my duty, Your Excellency the Duke." Cobol replied neither humbly nor arrogantly.

Afterwards, Kobel began to arrange for his entourage to unload the luggage from the special train and notified the city of New Frankfurt to come and take charge of the contact work.

After Kobel showed his ID, the group waited for people from the new Frankfurt city government in the VIP lounge at the central railway station.

Twenty minutes later, a convoy of government buses from the New Frankfurt City Government drove into the New Frankfurt Central Station.

The new Frankfurt city government did not dare to neglect this duke. To be more precise, Franz IV was a legitimate foreign head of state. Although the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was only a duchy under the German Empire rather than an independent country, it did not hinder its status as a country.

"Your Excellency the Duke, which areas of our city do you hope to visit in the next few days? Although our New Frankfurt is only a new city, it also has many unique sights." New Frankfurt Deputy Mayor Lasler asked Franz IV in the back seat while sitting in the co-pilot seat.

This aroused the interest of Franz IV. After all, East Africa has a short history and there are no famous places of interest. As for the scenery, it would be better to visit some undeveloped areas in East Africa, such as grasslands, rainforests, and lakes. Of course, East Africa also has some relatively famous natural landscapes.

For example, the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, King's Falls (Victoria Falls), the Nile River, the Congo River, etc., but these places obviously have little to do with the new city of Frankfurt.

So Franz IV asked: "Is there any famous natural scenery in New Frankfurt?"

Laslers: "We don't have any famous natural landscapes in our city, but we do have quite a few man-made landscapes, such as the New Frankfurt People's Park, the East African Canal, the Central Football Stadium, etc."

Franz IV was indifferent to the parks in East Africa. After all, as a great nobleman, Franz had seen many gardens and private estates. Although there were many parks in East Africa, could any of them be more ornamental than the gardens of the Rhine Palace?

As for the East African Canal mentioned by Laslers, Francis IV was quite interested. After all, with such a grand name, it must be of a large scale. He asked Laslers, "Can you tell me what the East African Canal is? I am very interested in the canal project in East Africa."

Now that East Africa has been opened up, these projects naturally no longer need to be concealed. Lasler introduced to Francis IV: "The East African Canal is a miracle of our East African water transport construction. It is also a large-scale project that can be compared with your country's Kiel Canal. Of course, if you look closely, your country's Sino-German Canal is more comparable."

"Because the main function of the East African Canal is to connect the water networks in central and western East Africa, so as to connect East African water transport with the coastal areas of the two oceans, its function is very similar to the Sino-German Canal that connects the central and northern parts of Germany."

"Moreover, the East African Canal is also a large-scale canal project completed by our country in this century. This is very similar to your country's Sino-German Canal."

The Mittel Canal, also known as the Central German Canal or the Mittel Canal, is an artificial canal planned to be built by Germany before the war. Construction began in 1905, and now it has been temporarily shelved due to the war.

Franz IV also knew something about the Sino-German Canal. After all, for the whole of Germany, the Sino-German Canal was a national strategic project. If completed, it would connect important German cities such as Berlin, Wolfsburg, Hanover, Dortmund, and Duisburg, and greatly strengthen the connection between the capital Berlin and the Ruhr industrial area.

And Laslers actually compared the Grand East African Canal with the Sino-German Canal. It is obvious that in Laslers' mind, the Grand East African Canal must be quite impressive.

This made Franz IV a little bit unconvinced. After all, the Sino-German Canal was a huge project in Franz IV's eyes.

So Francis IV asked Laslers: "I wonder how much work is being done on this canal in your country and how is the progress of the project?"

Laslers did not notice the change in Franz IV's mind, but spoke directly: "This project has been completed four years ago. As for the length, the artificially excavated canal along the entire line is more than a thousand kilometers. I heard that the amount of work is only smaller than the canal built in the ancient Far Eastern Empire."

Franz IV seemed to have heard a joke. He asked in disbelief, "How is it possible?"

"An artificial canal of more than a thousand kilometers. I'm afraid there is no such crazy project in the world except for the ancient canal in the Far East Empire. And you just said that the excavation of this canal in East Africa only started this century! How could it be achieved in such a short time?"

Facing Franz IV's questioning, Lasler said: "It is true. The empire has indeed completed this incredible project, and an even larger canal project is currently being built in East Africa, although it is hard to convince people."

After saying this, Lasler couldn't help but think that if he were a foreigner, it would obviously be unlikely for him to believe that East Africa could complete such a huge project independently.

Instead, Cobol said to Franz, "Although it's hard to believe, the Empire did complete the East African Canal a few years ago. The amount of work is comparable to six or seven Suez Canals, and this canal passes through the city of New Frankfurt. Of course, the cost is not small, but this is not an impossible amount of work for us in East Africa. After all, the population of East Africa is as high as more than 100 million, and the tools and materials are far more complete than when the Suez Canal was built, so this is not beyond common sense."

With Kobel's confirmation, Francis IV had to believe in the existence of the canal. After all, the interactions they had along the way made Franz IV not think that Kobel was bragging, and there was no need for the East Africans to joke with him about such a thing.

After reluctantly accepting the fact of the existence of the East African Canal, Francis IV said: "It seems that your country's infrastructure capabilities are beyond people's imagination. Before coming to East Africa, I thought that East Africa's national strength should be on par with Russia, but now I have to pay the price for my ignorance. Your country's capabilities are far superior to Russia, especially your country's infrastructure capabilities, which are not inferior to those of the whole of Europe."

(End of this chapter)