African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1187 East African World Expo

1915 7 Month 13 Day.

City of Dar es Salaam.

Today's Dar es Salaam is obviously different from the past. Various departments of the municipal government have begun to organize personnel to conduct a unified investigation of issues throughout the city, including health, transportation, and public security.

Traffic police in East Africa have begun to take up their posts and carry out comprehensive management of traffic chaos such as illegal parking, illegal taxis, drunk driving, speeding, running red lights, etc.

The police department conducts orderly patrols in each block to crack down on all kinds of illegal and criminal activities.

The industrial and commercial departments conduct targeted inspections on the hygiene and production and operation activities of shops on both sides of the street.

Firefighters and urban management departments have also begun to regulate and rectify various safety hazards and street stalls in the city.

Lighthouse Road.

"Officer Chris, is there something big happening today? I see quite a few civil servants on the streets today, doing various tasks door to door. Is the city government making any big moves?"

Chris is a policeman at the Lighthouse Road Police Station. The person who stopped him and questioned him was his neighbor Edson.

In the eyes of East Africans, the police are not a scary image, but rather a public servant who "serves the people". This is also the direct reason why Edson dared to contact Chris directly. Of course, the identity of an acquaintance also had a certain influence.

After all, the East African police are only responsible for public security and convenience services, while other tasks that are prone to cause disputes and conflicts are handled by the industrial and commercial, urban management and other departments.

Especially the Urban Management Department, which can be said to be the "devil" in the eyes of many small vendors, and their attitude is not good. If it were the Urban Management Department, I'm afraid Edson would have run away long ago.

Chris said, "It's you! Edson, it's actually not a big deal. Don't you work in a mold factory? So this round of activities shouldn't have any impact on you. This time the city government is mainly conducting a large-scale political campaign targeting the city's image."

Edson asked, "The city government has never mobilized so many troops before, right? And this time, so many departments are acting together. Even when the New Economic Policy was just implemented in 1910, it was not as scary as it is now."

The grassroots people are still quite afraid of the East African government. After all, the people do not fight against the officials, and the East African government is a typical authoritarian government. So with so many civil servants and so many departments involved, Edson is also a little worried.

Chris did not hide it. He said to Edson, "It's not a big deal. It seems that the city government received a notice from the provincial government that they are going to hold an international event in our city of Dar es Salaam."

"It should be a world-class expo similar to the San Francisco Expo. There should be a lot of foreigners flocking in at that time. So in order to show the style of our city, we have combed the entire city in advance to correct some safety hazards, hygiene and public security issues."

In 1915, when the war was in full swing in Europe, the United States, like in its previous life, held the Panama World Exposition in San Francisco on the pretext of the opening of the Panama Canal.

This expo was quite famous in the Far Eastern Empire in the past. After all, many traditional brands in industries such as tobacco, alcohol, and tea in later generations used the medals won in the Panama Canal as publicity.

Many Far East Empire liquor companies hyped up the awards they won at the Panama Expo, but in reality, this was completely different from what they marketed, and they became a laughing stock instead.

However, this also illustrates the success of the Panama Expo, whose influence has continued into the 21st century.

Edson said excitedly, "Does that mean that Dar es Salaam will also host a World Expo this time?" Chris nodded and confirmed, "That's right. You can see how much the city and provincial governments value this event. Otherwise, I wouldn't have worked overtime today."

Chris can completely understand Edson’s excitement, as this is the first time that East Africa has hosted a large international event in the country.

The main reason for this result is that East Africa was once under the influence of Ernst's "hide one's capabilities and bide one's time" strategy and did not want to be too prominent in the international community. But now it suddenly has to host international events because the situation has changed.

On the one hand, East Africa has developed into a giant, and it cannot hide even if it wants to. East Africa is so big, and it has frequently "struck hard" in the international community in the past two years, so the conditions for keeping a low profile have disappeared.

On the other hand, now that European countries are caught up in war, it is a good opportunity for East Africa to poach people. By hosting the World Expo, East Africa can show its muscles in the economic field, so that regions and countries such as South America, Southeast Asia, and the Far East Empire can recognize East Africa's strength and make them move closer to East Africa.

The Panama City Expo in the United States probably has the same idea. The situation in Europe is now chaotic and cracks in the old century system are obvious, so preparations must be made in advance.

Apart from anything else, if the Allied Powers led by Britain and France failed in the war, it would basically mean the collapse of the old world system. On the contrary, if the Central Powers failed, Britain and France might be able to patch up the old order after the war.

The East African government has just concluded a round of discussions and formally proposed the concept of the "Southern Hemisphere Economic System". So, an excuse is needed to connect the countries in the Southern Hemisphere together.

Obviously, holding the World Expo is a good way to showcase Dar es Salaam, the most economically developed city in East Africa, to these countries, so that they can realize that East Africa is not only militarily powerful, but is also not inferior to the old imperialist powers in terms of economy and industry.

Citizens of Dar es Salaam like Edson are naturally excited if the World Expo is held in Dar es Salaam.

That will greatly inspire the patriotism and pride of the people of East Africa. After all, East Africa has been on the rise in recent years, and the people's mentality will naturally expand accordingly.

However, in the past, the image of East Africa's economy and development was not active internationally, which made all citizens of East Africa feel frustrated, and the World Expo was a good opportunity to vent.

Edson asked, "When does the fair start?"

Chris said: "If nothing unexpected happens, it should be in October this year. At that time, the government will invite people and companies from all countries to Dar es Salaam to participate. In addition to our city, First Town City and Bagamoyo City will also participate. The three cities will jointly host this World Expo."

The first town is now the capital of the Maritime Province and the seat of the provincial government. Bagamoyo has outstanding industrial strength in areas such as shipbuilding. Together with Dar es Salaam, it constitutes the economic core triangle of the Maritime Province.

Chris went on to say: "You will be in for a treat. I guess there will be a lot of cutting-edge technologies and new things from abroad. If it can reach the level of the Panama Expo, Dar es Salaam will probably be even more lively in the next six months."

Dar es Salaam is quite lively nowadays, which is mainly the result of trade with Europe. The holding of the World Expo will obviously make Dar es Salaam even more popular.

“By then, the population of Dar es Salaam may exceed two million, so the city government will be under great pressure.”

Today, the population of Dar es Salaam has exceeded 1.3 million, and this is only the number of East African citizens. If people from other countries in Dar es Salaam are included, the number will exceed 1.5 million. Therefore, the Dar es Salaam Municipal Government expects that during the expo, the population of the entire Dar es Salaam city may exceed two million.

This will create great pressure on the city's accommodation, catering, service facilities, etc. Therefore, after this round of rectification, the city of Dar es Salaam will temporarily build a batch of new public service facilities to cope with the influx of a large number of tourists during the expo.

The East African Central Government and the Coastal Provincial Government will keep a close eye on this activity. If it goes wrong, all officials in Dar es Salaam will suffer. This is why all departments of the Dar es Salaam Municipal Government are now mobilized collectively.

(End of this chapter)