African Entrepreneurship Records

 Chapter 625 Chapter 316 Dire Dawa City Thoughts

Modlaine said to Rollman Carlin that the development of Mogadishu Port is indeed inconsistent with its original historical status. Before East Africa occupied Mogadishu, Mogadishu should have always been the number one along the East African coast. Large ports can now only be compared with some less important ports.

On the one hand, this is the reason why East Africa focuses on developing the southern and inland areas. On the other hand, the early East African destruction of the Gredi Sultanate also caused its original commercial trade to plummet and eventually cease to exist. It took two or three years for the fruit and vegetable trade to flourish again.

"Your Excellency, Commissioner, I'm sorry to trouble you. Our province has been at a disadvantage in terms of immigration quotas for many years. If more immigrants can be added, it will definitely greatly alleviate the labor shortage problem in the province." Rollman Carlin said .

There is no doubt that most of the immigrants are high-quality labor force. Maybe they are new to East Africa and it will take some time to integrate into East Africa.

"Don't be too happy too early. I'm just reporting to the central government. As for whether the central government agrees or not, that's up to two people. But there is a high probability that they will agree, because since they have approved your plan before, it means that the central government attaches great importance to it."

Modlaine said it ambiguously, but in reality, he thought that it would be useless not to pay attention to it, because this project in Somalia is bound to be profitable, so the East African government is willing to invest, otherwise it would definitely not approve the "Eurasian Fruit Basket Plan". Since it has already If this project is approved, resources will definitely be invested.

 …

Dire Dawa.

“Will this major economic move in the Northern Province affect Dire Dawa?” asked Herlain, the mayor of Dire Dawa.

"Mr. Mayor, you are worrying too much. Although Dire Dawa belongs to the Northern Province, the relationship between the two is extremely special. When Dire Dawa was first established, it was a military town and generally did not participate in the affairs of the Northern Province. , but it involves the military, and the Ministry of National Defense will also intervene in the Northern Province, so Dire Dawa is in a proactive position anyway."

“In fact, in comparison, Dire Dawa’s geographical location is very embarrassing. Although we are part of the Northern Province, we are at the northernmost point. The economy and population of the Northern Province are mainly distributed in the Shabelle River Basin in the south. We, Dire Dawa, are south of the East African Rift Valley, and the economic ties between the two sides are not close."

Dire Dawa was first established to balance the power of Britain, France and Italy near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. As Dire Dawa's population increased, it gradually developed from a military town into a city, but it still had a distinct military flavor.

 After becoming a city, the Dire Dawa Municipal Government was also established and had some of the same configurations as other cities in East Africa. However, Dire Dawa City also had an embarrassment, that is, it was too far away from the Northern Province.

 The economic center and population of Northern Province are in the southeast, while Dire Dawa City is in the northwest. Therefore, when the Northern Provincial Government formulates plans and implements policies, it will naturally ignore Dire Dawa City.

This is actually easy to understand. For example, if the main crop of a province is wheat, but there are also some areas where rice is grown, then the province is more likely to issue wheat planting subsidies than rice planting subsidies, which will easily generate centrifugal force.

Dire Dawa City obviously does not have a strong sense of belonging to the Northern Province, but this is not important to Dire Dawa City, because Dire Dawa City is an important border town, so its priority is even higher than that of the Northern Province. The Northern Province should instead support the development of Dire Dawa city.

"Mr. Mayor, our city in Dire Dawa is geographically remote, and due to military reasons, many industries cannot develop as desired. Moreover, the conditions here are not very good, so we should give priority to providing service guarantees for the military. This is also the reason for Dire Dawa. It is one of the reasons why the city of Dire Dawa was established, so we cannot sacrifice the good and the bad.” Dire Dawa City appeared in the previous life entirely because of the construction of the Ethiopian Railway, which made it an important hub connecting the Port of Djibouti.

 The purpose of establishing Dire Dawa City in East Africa is also related to the Djibouti region, but it is completely different from Ethiopia's idea.

Ethiopia's purpose is mainly for domestic economic development. After all, the country has no access to the sea, while East Africa's purpose is entirely to target all hostile forces in the region militarily.

Helian: "You are right. My mayor is indeed different from other areas. Dire Dawa City has a large number of soldiers and their families. It is essentially to provide support services to frontline soldiers."

Although he said this, Helian was still more envious of officials from other regions in the Northern Province. This time, such a big move as the "Eurasian Fruit Basket Project" was all political achievements, but Dire Dawa City could only watch. Helian felt in his heart Naturally not very happy.

"Mr. Mayor, actually you don't have to be too depressed. Mogadishu has its advantages, and our city of Dire Dawa also has our own economic growth point. We cannot participate in the 'Eurasian Fruit Basket Plan' this time, but we are fully You can set up some economic projects on your own to boost the economy of Dire Dawa city.”

 “What do you think?” Helian asked.

"The biggest geographical advantage of our city in Dire Dawa is that it is close to various countries, especially Britain, France and Italy. Soldiers from Britain and France are high-quality customers. As for the Italians, their number is large enough, and because of Italy's colonization in the northwest , their material shortage is also not small, and our Dire Dawa City can definitely boost the economic development of Dire Dawa City through border trade with the above three countries."

"But the problem is that I don't have the final say in Dire Dawa City. We also have to consider the military's attitude. If we want to develop foreign trade, we need the consent of the central government. It's okay to say that in other areas, our Dire Dawa City may not be so. It’s easy to pass!”

“Mr. Mayor, everything depends on man-made efforts. Dire Dawa City used to be a complete military town, so there is no need to consider the issue of economic development. Now Dire Dawa City has been formed, and an important role of the municipal government is to develop the local economy.

This is an important change, indicating that the city of Dire Dawa has shifted from its previous military use to a normal military-civilian dual-use city. Under this premise, things that could not be done before do not mean that they cannot be done now. This is a relaxation of policy, and we only need Submit your suggestions to the central government and wait for the response from above to determine the outcome. This is not something you should worry about. "

Helian: "What you said makes sense. The city of Dire Dawa is indeed different now than before. This should be a kind of self-confidence supported by national strength. After all, there are probably only a few forces that dare to directly go to war with East Africa. In the border areas The national defense pressure will be greatly reduced."

“So things that could not be done before may have changed now. If we leave this issue to the central government, the responsibility will not be on us in the end. On the contrary, it can improve the reputation of Dire Dawa City in front of the central government.”

This is also the advantage of Dire Dawa City. As a military town, it can directly contact the central government without going through the Northern Provincial Government.

 (End of this chapter)