African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 1346 Urban Transformation

Through decades of expansion, East Africa has got rid of the plight of a lack of basic resources such as oil and coal. If Ernst was only satisfied with the land of German East Africa in the previous life, that is, Tanzania, then the upper limit of East Africa would be a regional Big country.

The area of ​​German East Africa in the previous life was less than one million square kilometers. Although Tanzania is considered a place with relatively rich resources, it is only relatively speaking. The only country in Africa that truly excels in resources is South Africa in the previous life. and Nigeria, while the former has more coal and the latter has more oil.

To a certain extent, this also reflects the important role of energy in economic development. Even if East Africa has more overseas territories, its roots are still on the African continent, just like it is impossible for the United Kingdom to move its political center from the British Isles to India. .

In the history of European colonization, only the Portuguese royal family went to Brazil to develop for a period of time, but unfortunately, the Portuguese royal family still focused on Portugal.

Judging from the current development status of Brazil and Portugal, Brazil has already overtaken its former suzerain country. In the previous life, Portugal might have been able to overtake Brazil economically.

However, most of the Portuguese overseas territories in this time and space were occupied by East Africa, and the remaining Portuguese colonies were unable to support Portugal in living a prosperous life.

…

Mbeya City.

In July 1919, the Bohemian Province in East Africa organized a group of officials to come to Mbeya for study and exchange.

Bohemia Province is also the most important industrial area in central East Africa. Its predecessor was Matabele Province (Zimbabwe). It was once known as the two major heavy industry bases in East Africa along with South Salzburg Province where Mbeya City is located. .

Today, Matabele Province has long been divided into two parts, becoming Bohemia Province and Lorraine Province, and South Salzburg has also been renamed Salzburg Province.

The Province of Bohemia has inherited most of the industry from the former Matabele Province and has always been a heavy industrial base in East Africa. Its status in East Africa is no less than that of the Ruhr Area in Germany or the Great Lakes Industrial Area in the United States.

However, Salzburg Province is very different. Although it is still one of the important heavy industry bases in East Africa, Salzburg Province has made outstanding achievements in the field of science and technology in recent years, and its light industry has also achieved considerable development.

After a general tour of Mbeya, Mayor Ikuti of Harare lamented: “Although our city of Harare is larger than Mbeya, with nearly 200,000 more people, It has become the only three major cities in the country with a population of more than one million, but it was only after arriving in Mbeya that we truly realized the difference between the two cities. ”

“Whether it is transportation planning, urban design, or environmental and humanistic construction, Mbeya City is much ahead of Halle City. It can be seen that even if Harare now exceeds Mbeya in terms of population and city size, But we still have a long way to go.”

Harare is the third most populous city in East Africa, after Dar es Salaam and Mombasa. In 1918, the city's population was about 1.03 million. The population of Mbeya City ranks fifth in East Africa, second only to New Frankfurt City, with a population of more than 800,000.

By 1918, household registration data showed that there were only three cities in East Africa with a population of more than one million. This level was not high, especially compared to the United States, which had nearly ten cities with a population of more than one million during the same period.

Moreover, among American cities, there are giants like New York, which has a population of more than five million, and Chicago, which has a population of nearly three million. This shows the gap between the size of cities in East Africa and the United States.

Of course, if you add in the permanent population, East African cities will definitely have a little more than the statistical data, but it cannot be too much. Take Dar es Salaam, the largest city in East Africa, as an example. Counting the permanent population, At most, it's less than two million.

Calculated at two million, the population of New York is still larger than that of both Dar es Salaams. This also reflects to a certain extent the difference between the urban development model in East Africa and the United States and other countries.

After all, the population of East Africa is tens of millions more than that of the United States, and its economic volume and industrial scale are slightly larger than that of the United States. If you want to build a world-class metropolis like London or New York, it is completely capable.

In addition to the lack of international metropolises with a population of more than five million, the number of cities with a population of one million in East Africa is also very scarce, which is at the same level as Russia, although Russia only has two cities with a population of more than one million, Moscow and St. Petersburg.

But the population of these two cities may be comparable to the only three cities in East Africa with a population of more than one million.

Russia's economy, industry and transportation are much behind those in East Africa, so it is obviously impossible for East African cities to be at this level.

In fact, the number of medium-sized cities in East Africa is at the forefront of the world. There are 14 cities in East Africa with a population of more than 500,000. In addition, there are a large number of small and medium-sized cities with a population of less than 500,000, such as the New Port of Hamburg. The city's population is only over 300,000, but its industrial level is not low.

In other words, excluding Dar es Salaam, Mombasa and Harare, there are still 11 cities in East Africa with a population between 500,000 and 1 million.

At the same time, in Russia, there was only one city of this level, Volgograd. In other words, there were only three Russian cities with a population of more than 500,000, namely Moscow, St. Petersburg and Volgograd. This shows how appallingly low the level of industrialization in Russia is.

At the beginning of the 20th century, cities with a population of more than 100,000 were considered large cities. This was especially true in Europe. For example, in Germany, there were nearly 50 cities with a population of more than 100,000 before World War I. . At the same time, Russia had about 70 cities with a population of more than 100,000.

Therefore, Mbeya City has a population of more than 800,000, which is one of the few large cities in the world. If the permanent population is included, the population of Mbeya City should easily exceed one million.

In this way, the number of cities in East Africa with a population of more than one million may not be much less than that of the United States, but overall it should still be less than that of the United States. In addition to the numerical difference, the population may be even less than that of the United States. After all, New York has a population of more than five million. It’s as big as Dar es Salaam, Mombasa and Harare combined.

And thinking about it this way, London in the United Kingdom is even more terrifying. You must know that the population of London before the war was as high as more than 7 million, and the total population of the United Kingdom was only more than 40 million.

Compared with the urban development models of the United Kingdom and the United States, administrative intervention in urban development in East African countries is an important reason for the formation of today's urban pattern. In addition, the geography of East Africa has also contributed to the development of this model.

For example, the United Kingdom has a small land area and less usable land, so it is more suitable for the population to be concentrated in London. However, large cities in the United States are concentrated on the east coast and the Great Lakes region. This is also reasonable. The climate in the western United States is relatively harsh and the terrain is relatively harsh. It is rugged and complex, so it cannot support a large population.

On the east and west coasts of East Africa, the differences are relatively small, and it is impossible to say who is better and who is worse, so the population distribution is relatively balanced.

Faced with the emotion of Mayor Ikuti, Valenci, the mayor of Gweru City in Bohemian Province, affirmed: "Mbeya City is one of the earliest heavy industrial cities in the country to transform."

"In addition, Mbeya developed relatively early, has more complete industries, and has a prominent transportation location, so it is reasonable for it to be relatively developed." Mbeya is one of the earliest cities in East Africa. When they became the center of the colonial region, Bohemian cities such as Harare were still hunting wilderness for indigenous people.

The early development of cities is naturally an advantage, especially since some established industries will continue to stay in the local area according to historical inertia.

Ikuti said: "It is not all due to these reasons. The most important thing is that Mbeya City has caught the trend. After all, there are many cities in East Africa that have as early as Mbeya, such as Dodoma and Tapora. Relatively unsatisfactory.”

Mayor Valenci said: "That's because other cities have developed too fast. At that time, the empire's territory continued to expand and snatched many good places from the Portuguese and Boers. If the conditions were more favorable, they would naturally get more resources, such as Cabin. Da, Luanda and Maputo, Beira and other cities.”

"Most of the cities in our province formed what they are today because of the development of mineral resources. This is our advantage. However, from a long-term perspective, over-reliance on mineral resources is not a long-term solution, otherwise we would not be able to reach this level. Study in Mbeya City.”

This time Bohemian Province organized officials to study and exchange in Mbeya in order to learn from Mbeya’s experience in urban industrial transformation.

As a heavy industry base, the economy of Bohemian Province is very dependent on heavy industry, which itself is highly polluting, low-profit, and highly dependent on resources. Today, a number of small towns with depleted resources have emerged in the province of Bohemia, causing concern for the provincial government.

Of course, in fact, the problem in Bohemia Province is not very serious. If there is a big problem, it will take at least several decades. But for a country, decades are just a blink of an eye. This is a recent concern for the province of Bohemia.

Ikuti said: “The successful transformation of Mbeya City has great reference significance for us. Take our city of Harare as an example. The industrial volume is very large, but the proportion of heavy industry is high and it pollutes. It is serious and will have a certain impact on the city’s water quality, air and soil, and this is even if we take some measures to avoid it.”

“It’s completely different when you come to Mbeya City. The industry in Mbeya City is still very strong, but the sky is very blue, the rivers and lakes are purer, and the air is fresher. In addition, Mbeya City’s deliberately designed landscape and I think this place is better than most cities in the world in terms of humanistic shaping.”

"For a city like Mbeya, only Vienna can be compared to it."

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Vienna is a city with relatively beautiful scenery, which is why Ikuti compared Vienna with Mbeya.

Valenci said: "Vienna is still much better than Mbeya. After all, it is the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. If we really want to make a comparison, we should compare the Rhine City with Vienna. However, the Rhine City developed too late. The volume is much smaller than that of Vienna, and the Rhine City itself has relatively large industrial restrictions, so there is no comparison between the two. "

Vienna's industry is also very strong, and it also has administrative, financial, cultural, educational and other functions, so it is difficult for ordinary cities to compare with Vienna.

Ikuti said: "I only consider it from the perspective of economy and scenery. Mbeya's comprehensive conditions are definitely not as good as Vienna, but I can't find a second city in the Austro-Hungarian Empire that can be compared with it."

This is also true. Mbeya City has a population of more than one million based on its permanent population, and its economy, industry, science, education, and transportation are all very developed. It is also a big city in other countries.

Valenci said: "As the provincial capital, Harare City is not much worse than Mbeya City in terms of resource endowments. As long as the direction is adjusted, the transformation will be successful. Our problems in Gweru will be much bigger. "

"Apart from mining and metal smelting, there are no other major industries in Gweru, so even if we want to transform the city, the difficulty is beyond your imagination."

As the capital of Bohemian Province, Harare is not lacking in public resources such as administration, education, and medical care. It is also a transportation hub and has many industries. Even if the transformation is completed, it will only take a short period of pain before it can eventually succeed.

Gweru is completely different. Although it is also a prefecture-level city, Gweru is a typical resource-based city with a very single industrial structure. After all, Gweru City was established based on local mineral resources.

Ikuti said: "The development prospects of Gweru City are indeed not optimistic. This is also a problem faced by many cities in the province, especially many small and medium-sized towns. The difficulties they face are more serious than you."

“According to the requirements of the provincial government, some towns will inevitably be eliminated in this round of transformation unless sustainable industries can be found.”

"There are many competitors in this industry. Your advantage is that you have a relatively good foundation. Therefore, integrating the resources in hand and supporting emerging industries is the only way out. If you can get through, the sky will be brighter. If you can't get through, you will die slowly. ”

Resource-based cities are not without other advantages, but these advantages are brought about by mineral resources, such as hospitals and schools serving workers in mining areas, railways built for mineral transportation, factories invested and built, etc.

However, these industries are all supporting projects for the original mining and related industries. If the resources are exhausted, serious problems will arise. If other solutions cannot be found, it will inevitably lead to population outflow, and population outflow will lead to some schools and hospitals. and factory closures, further exacerbating population outflow, thus forming a vicious cycle.

This is also the reason why the province of Bohemia is anxious, and the city of Gweru is a typical industrial and mining city.

Valenci said: "This is also what worries me. In fact, Gweru is a prefecture-level city. No matter how different the gap is, it can be maintained as long as the administrative level is maintained. But the more important thing is the towns below Gweru. "

"So, after I return this time, I want to reintegrate the city's resources as much as possible. First, keep enterprises and public units as much as possible, lay off a group of unreasonable enterprises and units, or directly promote some enterprises to relocate Transformation.”

"The basic conditions of our Bohemian Province are not bad. Mbeya City has been able to successfully transform in recent years thanks to its local geographical and policy advantages."

“Geographically, Gweru cannot change, so in terms of policy, we must learn from Mbeya City as much as possible, especially how to support the development of some conventional enterprises. This is a very important point.”

The so-called conventional enterprises can also be understood as ordinary enterprises without any outstanding characteristics, but this kind of enterprise is the most unusual. After all, most enterprises belong to this type.

For example, rough processing of agricultural products has no technical content, but the market is relatively stable and can create a number of jobs. This is what Valenci is interested in. Of course, there are also high-quality companies that Valenci is not optimistic about and are willing to develop in Gweru. reason.

After all, Gweru is just an ordinary city in the whole of East Africa. How can it attract high-quality companies? Just like some cities, there are no high-quality universities, and the industrial and economic foundations are not strong, but they often develop what appear to be very cutting-edge industries, and most of them will only fail. After all, their innate foundation is weak, and if the foundation is not laid well, they will fail. It is also easy to develop deformities in the later stages.

(End of chapter)