African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 993: Eastern Province's Strategy for a Strong Capital

Yakrov: "A planned economy is exactly the same as a free market, but judging from the development of Mombasa, your economic system should be very successful."

Korivide: "Of course, but this economic system is not perfect and there are many problems. However, at this stage, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. After all, the actual changes and developments in East Africa cannot be deceived. Not only Mombasa, but other cities in East Africa are developing rapidly, and new cities are constantly emerging."

"Mr. Korivide, can you tell me about the situation in other cities in East Africa?" Since it concerns his future work and life, before determining his place of work, Yakrov naturally has to put in more effort and be mentally prepared.

"Of course, I haven't been to many cities in East Africa, but I still have some understanding of the overall situation. I will start with the big cities in East Africa, such as our new capital of East Africa, Rhine City..."

……

While Korived was introducing the urban development status of East Africa to Yakerov, the Mombasa Municipal Government and the Eastern Province Government were also discussing the issue of the Dar es Salaam urban circle.

As the twin cities of East Africa, Mombasa undoubtedly has the highest attention to Dar es Salaam, and the same is true for Eastern Province, because the economy of Eastern Province mainly relies on Mombasa, unlike the Coastal Province, which also has economically strong cities such as Bagamoyo, Tanga, Morogoro, First Town City, and Soga.

Although there are cities other than Mombasa in the Eastern Province, they are not strong and it is difficult for them to form a competitive advantage with the Coastal Province. Mombasa is not as good as Dar es Salaam. After the capital of East Africa is moved, Dar es Salaam is likely to go further.

Of course, there are also opportunities in this. The First Town is no longer the capital, and Mombasa sees this as an opportunity. After all, when the First Town was the capital, the former Central Province, now the Coastal Province, reaped a lot of policy dividends, and the cities around the First Town have developed well.

Now that the capital has become Rhine City, this policy advantage has also been transferred to the surrounding areas of Rhine City. Therefore, the Eastern Provincial Government believes that without the policy advantages of the central government, the development of the Maritime Province will inevitably be affected. This is a rare opportunity for the Eastern Province, which is determined to surpass the Central Province.

However, with the implementation of the Dar es Salaam urban circle policy, the governments of Eastern Province and Mombasa City have also felt the pressure. Although the capital has been moved, Dar es Salaam and the Coastal Province are still given more attention than Eastern Province and Mombasa.

The Mayor of Mombasa, Lorraine, said: “The national plan for the Dar es Salaam metropolitan area has further stimulated the enterprising spirit of Mombasa. Mombasa has always regarded Dar es Salaam as its number one goal to surpass. Although the municipal and provincial governments have worked hard over the years, their comprehensive advantages are still slightly worse than those of Dar es Salaam.”

“The current urban circle planning of Dar es Salaam is undoubtedly bad news for Mombasa’s goal of becoming the first city in East Africa, so it is for the further development of Mombasa.”

“The economy of Mombasa accounts for more than 70 percent of the province’s economy. If Mombasa fails to develop, it will be a disaster for the entire province. The city government hopes to get support from the provincial government to prevent Mombasa from being left behind by Dar es Salaam.”

Eastern Province senior official Andalé agrees with Lorraine's statement: "Although our province also has two economically strong cities, Malindi and Lamu, Lamu's military use has restricted its development. Although Malindi is a rare ancient city in East Africa, its economic development in recent years has been far from satisfactory. Excluding Mombasa, Malindi and Lamu, the strength of other cities is even more difficult to form competitiveness."

Andre has already put it very tactfully. Apart from the three cities mentioned above, other cities in the Eastern Province are not worthy of their names at all. Only their administrative levels meet the city standards, that is, the township level.

“Therefore, the economic development of our province can only focus on the development of Mombasa City first, and then drive the development of the regional economy through Mombasa City.”

Although Lorraine and Andre supported it, there were naturally objections. Someone said, "Senior official, isn't this a hasty decision? It is true that the development of other cities in the province, except Mombasa, is not satisfactory, but this also proves that other cities have great potential, and it is not safe to put all eggs in one basket. If Mombasa fails to develop and consumes a lot of resources, it will definitely be a disaster for our province." Andre sighed and said, "But apart from Mombasa, we have no choice. Mombasa itself accounts for a large share of the province's economy and has unparalleled advantages in transportation. It is an important railway and shipping hub city in the country."

“This also means that Mombasa is the easiest city to make achievements, and no other city in the province can take on this task. In our province, the only city that can barely be compared with Mombasa in terms of infrastructure is Lamu, but a large part of Lamu’s port has been requisitioned by the navy. In this case, Mombasa’s role is even more irreplaceable.”

After the completion of the Northern Railway, other cities in the Eastern Province were destined to be unable to compete with Mombasa, not to mention that Mombasa was the city with the best port conditions in the Eastern Province.

Andal said: "If we want to compete with the Coastal Province, we, as the weaker party, must concentrate all our energy on developing Mombasa first. We cannot surpass Dar es Salaam, but we cannot be left behind by Dar es Salaam. Only in this way can we be competitive with the Coastal Province. If we cannot even develop Mombasa, we will find it increasingly difficult to compete with the Coastal Province in the future, and may even fall behind."

“So during the First Five-Year Plan, the provincial government’s resources must prioritize the development of Mombasa, focus on developing one city, and ultimately drive the development of the entire province.”

“Mayor Lorraine and I have reached some consensus on this. In order to promote the development of Mombasa, we need to formulate a Greater Mombasa development strategy, expand the urban area of ​​Mombasa, and coordinate the inclusion of surrounding towns into the Mombasa Economic Cooperation Zone.”

“The key is to incorporate Kilifi and Mtwapa towns into the urban area of ​​Mombasa, making them highly industrialized areas like the new district of Dar es Salaam.”

The towns of Kilifi and Mtwapa are both located in the north of Mombasa, on both sides of the Mtwapa River, less than 20 kilometers away from Mombasa.

"At the same time, the development potential of Mombasa is also huge. At present, the main part of Mombasa is on Mombasa Island. Therefore, in order to further promote the development of Mombasa, during the First Five-Year Plan, our province will focus on building two bridges, realizing the development of the north and west of Mombasa, and building two new districts."

"That is, based on the original Mombasa urban area, the urban area of ​​Mombasa will be expanded three times, and the three new districts will be connected to the Mombasa urban area through roads and railways. Enterprises in the province will be concentrated to invest in Mombasa to build new factories. At the same time, foreign investment will be guided to build the northern new district to promote the establishment of important industries such as steel, electricity, and electrolytic aluminum in Mombasa."

“Once the Greater Mombasa plan is completed, even if the Dar es Salaam urban area is formed, we will be able to compete with it with the strength of Mombasa alone.”

“This is the goal of the Greater Mombasa City during the First Five-Year Plan. In the next 20 years, the Greater Mombasa City will have four key ports, two trunk railways, and more than three industrial concentration areas for transportation and industry layout.”

Andare's plan will further make full use of the port conditions in Mombasa. The port conditions in Mombasa are much better than those in Dar es Salaam, and its port waters are stronger and more complex than Dar es Salaam.

That is why there are the four key port areas mentioned by Andare. Currently, only Mombasa Island has been developed in the Port of Dar es Salaam. In fact, in the harbor, except for Mombasa Island, the north, west and south can all be developed and utilized.

However, due to the limited conditions in the Eastern Province, according to the opinions of Andare and Lorraine, priority is given to the development of the north and west banks. This will also enable connection with the two towns on both sides of the Mtwapa River in the north, which will be beneficial for subsequent development.

(End of this chapter)