African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 994 Economic Foreign Aid
In fact, the reason for not developing southward for the time being is that the southern bay is an important waterway. Mombasa Island divides Mombasa Bay into two parts. The southern port is wide and deep. If a bridge is built, the shipping conditions of the Mombasa Port will be greatly weakened, while there are no such concerns in the north and west.

The development path of Mombasa in the past was also the same. Bridges were built to connect Mombasa Island with the northern and western lands. Before that, there was already a railway bridge in the west connecting to Mombasa Island. Now the Eastern Province government plans to further expand the economic ties between Mombasa Island and the mainland.

However, it is not easy for the Eastern Province to complete the Greater Mombasa Plan. To realize the Greater Mombasa Plan, a population of at least 1.5 million is required, while the current population of Mombasa is less than 700,000.

In the past, the population of major cities in East Africa has not increased very quickly. The most typical examples are Dar es Salaam and Mombasa. According to the economic size and population scale of East Africa, if they were free market countries, the populations of these two cities would have exceeded one million many years ago.

We can take the United States as a reference here. In the mid-19th century, the population of New York had exceeded one million, while the entire US population was only about million at that time. Now the population of East Africa, including blacks, is just over million, but there is no city with a population of over one million. This allows us to more clearly understand the development path of East African cities.

So for Mombasa, urban development is constrained by population, which is a big problem. However, there are opportunities. One of the goals of East Africa's First Five-Year Plan is to improve the level of urbanization.

Therefore, Andare said: "An important factor driving the concentration of urban population is industry. Only when the industry meets the standards can it provide more jobs and absorb more people."

“The Greater Mombasa City needs at least a million people to achieve our goal, so we first set the population target for Mombasa City at one million. Breaking through one million will be a great victory for us. In that way, even when facing the urban circle of Dar es Salaam, Mombasa City will not be left too far behind.”

"An important direction for absorbing population is to transform agricultural population into industrial population. If we want farmers to move to cities without delaying the province's agricultural production tasks, the most important thing is to improve rural productivity."

“So while supporting the Greater Mombasa City Plan, the provincial government will also carry out relevant reforms in the agricultural sector of our province, including further adjustments to the agricultural production structure, improving the degree of agricultural mechanization, and focusing on conquering the productivity of fertilizers and pesticides.”

“The adjustment of agricultural production structure means changing the agricultural production tasks of the whole province with Mombasa as the center, connecting with food and processing enterprises in Mombasa and other cities in the province, and increasing the proportion of animal husbandry and cash crops in agriculture.”

"That is, with Mombasa as the core and other cities cooperating, we will form an integrated agricultural product processing and export port, pool the province's strength, vigorously develop the agricultural product processing industry, improve agricultural income and production efficiency, on the one hand provide Mombasa urban residents with abundant agricultural products, on the other hand actively strengthen agricultural product exports and increase the added value of agricultural products."

"Agricultural mechanization is a term that everyone is probably familiar with. It means increasing the use of tractors, agricultural vehicles, water pumps and other machinery in the agricultural sector."

“In these areas, Mombasa must also further develop related industries and strive for Mombasa’s industry to feed back to the province’s agriculture.”

"The production of fertilizers and pesticides is an important guarantee for the stable improvement of agricultural product output and quality in a short period of time. In addition to serving the agricultural sector in the province, it can also be exported or transported to other parts of East Africa. The above three key points are the priority issues to be addressed in agricultural reform."

As agricultural productivity increases, the demand for population for agricultural production decreases accordingly, so the population will naturally transition to cities.

Of course, if the urban industrial layout is not in place, the original agricultural population may become unemployed, and the economic development plan of the Eastern Province government may backfire. Therefore, ensuring the expansion of industrial scale is the primary problem that Mombasa must solve first.

During the First Five-Year Plan, Mombasa did not receive much policy support. Since the current focus of East Africa is on building the western region, it is not easy for Mombasa to further enrich its urban industries.

In this case, we must seek more external support, first of all, we need to seek help from the provincial government. At present, the provincial government naturally supports the development of Mombasa, because Mombasa is also the capital of Eastern Province. However, when the economic size of Mombasa accounts for about 70% of the province, the strength of the province is obviously not enough, so we still need external assistance.

So Mayor Lorraine said: "At present, even if Mombasa gathers the strength of the whole province to develop, it will be difficult. In this case, we must attract more allies. In this regard, I have two ideas."

"That is to rely on the two major arteries of the northern railway and the coastal railway to cooperate with other provinces, especially those in the northern railway economic belt."

"The provinces along the Northern Railway Economic Belt have close relations with the Eastern Province and a high level of industrial cooperation, so integrating the resources along the Northern Railway Economic Belt is to strengthen the advantages of our province."

"Mombasa is the leading part of the Northern Railway Economic Belt. Most import and export work can only be completed through the Port of Mombasa, so the provinces along the Northern Railway Economic Belt are most dependent on us."

"Under such circumstances, we can fully lead the economic development of the entire northern railway economic zone and cooperate with various provinces to achieve collaborative development in personnel, logistics, resources, minerals and industries."

In this regard, the Northern Railway Economic Belt is rich in population, resources and markets, all of which Mombasa needs for further development.

Although northern East Africa is a relatively sparsely populated area, this is not the case along the Northern Railway Economic Belt. From Mombasa all the way to the Great Lakes region, which belongs to the eastern economic region of East Africa, it has always been the most densely populated area, especially the Great Lakes region, which has developed agricultural activities, a large agricultural population and a high natural growth rate. It has always been an important population reservoir in East Africa and has transported a large number of people to various parts of East Africa.

Therefore, the key to Mombasa's population exceeding one million lies in the Great Lakes Region. Similarly, the Northern Railway Economic Zone can provide a large amount of resources for Mombasa. Although resources in northern East Africa are relatively scarce compared to other regions, they are completely sufficient to supply the development of a city. In Lorraine's opinion, the city in northern East Africa that can take on this important task is Mombasa.

For example, the rich nepheline resources in the mountains of Kenya are an important source of raw materials for the development of the aluminum industry in Mombasa. Nepheline is a substitute for bauxite and is also an important raw material for the ceramic and glass industries.

This type of mineral is generally distributed in areas with active geological activities. Mount Kenya, located in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, is an important production area of ​​this mineral.

Similarly, the northern region is currently the most important oil producing area in East Africa, especially the two major production areas of Lake Turkana and Lake Albert basins, which can support the development of Mombasa through railway advantages.

In terms of other resources, Mombasa, with its advantageous geographical location, can also easily import them, such as coal and iron ore for industrial development, most of which come from imports, including the Middle East, India and East Africa's own New Hamburg Port.

Mombasa's geographical location advantage is also its real core advantage. It is an important port for exchanges between East Africa and Eurasia. Although Mogadishu Port is closer, Mogadishu's economic scale is not as large as Mombasa's. What's more, Mombasa relies on the Northern Railway, and its economic hinterland can reach as far as the Azande Plateau and the Congo rainforest.

Therefore, the planning of Mombasa must always rely on its port location advantages, which is also an important basis for the Eastern Province and Mombasa city governments in formulating policies.

(End of this chapter)