African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1207 Falta New District

Mars also said with a nostalgic look: "In the end, we were happy for less than a day before we discovered the huge gap between reality and imagination. Although we were assigned to Benguela City, it was not the well-developed Benguela City area at that time."

"It was the new district built by the city of Benguela, the Farta New District. When we arrived at the Farta New District, we were dumbfounded. There was nothing in the whole Farta New District except sand and soil, and a pile of construction materials brought from the old city of Benguela."

"We were all so disappointed at the time that if we didn't know better we would have thought we were exiled!"

In fact, when Anton and Mars first arrived in the new district of Farta, it was no different from being exiled. Although they were born in the countryside in central East Africa, the province of Salzburg was a famous land of plenty in East Africa.

Even in rural areas, the environment can be said to be beautiful and the resources are abundant. However, at that time, the construction of the Farta New District had just been approved and the conditions were extremely poor.

Anton said: "But no one would have thought that in just a few years, Farta New District would develop to what it is today. Maybe Benguela City can regain its position as the second city on the West Coast thanks to Farta New District!"

Benguela was once the second largest port city on the west coast of East Africa. However, with the rise of Cabinda and Lobito, it has dropped to fourth place, after Luanda, Cabinda and Lobito. As for the fifth place, it is Alexandria.

The relationship between Lobito and Benguela is similar to that between Cabinda and Luanda, with Lobito and Cabinda focusing on the economy, while Benguela and Luanda focus on politics and the military.

East Africa likes this layout very much, as can be seen from the capital Rhine City and the central economic center New Frankfurt City, as well as the earlier Dar es Salaam City and the First Town City.

Of course, this layout is actually related to the history of East Africa. Benguela was one of the earliest regions developed by the Portuguese. East Africa later inherited the city of Benguela, so Benguela was still chosen as the regional center, and Lobito was a new city developed in East Africa.

The same is true of the relationship between Luanda and Cabinda. Although Cabinda and Lobito were also large cities in Angola in their previous lives, when the Portuguese occupied these areas in East Africa, they had not had time to develop the two places.

Take Lobito for example. The Portuguese developed Lobito in the early 20th century, after the completion of the Benguela Railway. The emergence of East Africa greatly compressed this time. At the end of the 19th century, cities such as Lobito, Cabinda and Alexandria appeared ahead of schedule as they were incorporated into the territory of East Africa.

The attitudes of the East African and Portuguese governments towards Angola are obviously different. After all, the moment Angola was incorporated into the East African territory, it was designed and built according to local conditions.

At that time, the economy of the east coast of East Africa had already grown to a considerable scale, so from the perspective of balanced and coordinated economic development across the country and the development of Atlantic trade, it was imperative to build the west coast into a new pillar of East Africa's economic development.

Otherwise, it would be even more difficult for the West Coast, which was already lagging behind the East Coast, to catch up with it in the future. Therefore, in the last decade of the 19th century, a large number of emerging towns emerged on the West Coast.

These towns were uniformly planned and constructed by the East African government, and most of them were designed and planned ahead of time, which also reflected the confidence of the East African government at that time in its own economy.

And this is indeed the case. Before the outbreak of World War I, less than twenty years had passed, and the economy of the west coast of East Africa had risen rapidly.

Benguela, an old city founded by Portugal, has also successfully completed its transformation driven by the economy of East Africa. Today, Benguela is divided into two parts. In addition to the old city, a new district has been built in its southwest.

The new district built Farta Port around Farta Bay and named Farta New District, which has become the fastest growing area in Benguela in recent years. This is relatively rare in East African urban planning, because Farta New District and Benguela's old town are not adjacent, which is somewhat similar to the relationship between Lanzhou City and the new district in the Far East Empire in the past.

The reason for this urban development pattern is also due to the limitations of natural conditions. The environmental carrying capacity of Benguela City has an upper limit. Its climate is relatively dry and the ecological environment is fragile, so it is not suitable for over-development.

Therefore, there are certain ecological considerations for separating the Farta New District from the city of Benguela. Furthermore, and more importantly, the port resources in East Africa are limited. Therefore, in order to make full use of and develop these ports, there is no obstacle to the construction of the Farta New District.

After all, a natural port is a natural resource and it will stay where it is. Even if the new district of Farta is not established, East Africa may still be able to build another town here.

The reason why it is chosen as a new district of Benguela City instead of being developed separately is because the natural environment of Farta New District is much worse than that of Benguela.

Although the climate is relatively dry, Benguela still has large green areas, forests, rivers and other resources, while the Farta New District and its surrounding areas are entirely a large Gobi desert and sparse grassland. Calling it grassland is an exaggeration for the natural conditions of the Farta New District. The actual situation is only slightly better than a desert, similar to the Kalahari Desert in inland East Africa.

The Farta New District is not completely barren, but the extremely limited vegetation is better than nothing. At least the vegetation can be counted on one's hands. The scattered vegetation in the Farta New District is completely dependent on the rare rainfall and fog in the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the tenacious vitality of drought-resistant plants.

From this, we can imagine the harsh conditions at the beginning of the construction of Farta New District. Anton and Mars, the two young men who were assigned to Farta New District at that time, naturally felt sad. Such natural conditions were not as good as farming in their hometown!
Of course, Anton and Mars would definitely not think so now, because the Falta New District is no longer what it used to be.

Anton said: "Falta's port conditions are a huge advantage, so the country must have seen this, so the construction of the Falta New District has been a provincial key project from the beginning."

“Besides, it is only 12 kilometers away from the old town of Benguela. Drinking water, daily necessities, etc. are all dependent on the old town. This is probably why the new district of Farta was not set up as a separate city, but was developed as part of the city of Benguela.”

Although there are groundwater resources that can be exploited in the Farta New District, as the population grows, it can only solve the early water use problem. Now the main water source is transported from the old city and other water sources through water pipelines.

Other resources are supported by the city of Benguela, which is particularly important for the early development of the Farta New District. Therefore, it is impossible for the Farta New District to be established as a separate city, as that would require more construction costs.

The city of Benguela also needs the land and port resources of the Farta New District to seek further economic development. As an important node for the East African Railway to connect with the Atlantic trade, although the natural environment of the Farta Port is relatively poor, it is worthy of investment by the East African government.

The Farta New District can be said to be a new city that rose up under the witness of Anton and Mars, and as the first generation of residents, they naturally have different feelings for this place.

Anton said: "I guess when the war in Europe is over, the new district of Farta and the old city will be closer, with more and more buildings on both sides of the road, and the development of the new district of Farta to the north will be faster and faster. Maybe when we are old, we can see the new district of Farta and the old city merged into one!"

This is not without precedent. For example, Soga, once the technological city of East Africa, was completely integrated with Dar es Salaam within a few years after the capital of East Africa was moved to Rhine.

Of course, there is still a big gap between Benguela and Dar es Salaam. The latter has been the largest city in East Africa for many years. It can maintain this position when so many cities in East Africa are developing rapidly. Obviously, Dar es Salaam has a very deep cultural heritage, which is exactly what Benguela lacks, so Anton did not say too much.

(End of this chapter)