African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 634: Plan Selection

 Hessian Province.

The name corresponds to the Grand Duchy of Hesse in Germany. In fact, Hesse was just an earldom like the Principality of Hechingen in the 18th century. However, when the Holy Roman Empire collapsed in 1803, Hesse seized the opportunity and realized The territory expanded. Later, Napoleon formed the Confederation of the Rhine. Hesse was promoted to a Grand Duchy by Napoleon, annexed more land, and officially became one of the important German states.

The capital of the Grand Duchy of Hesse is Wiesbaden, but the most famous city in the German state of Hesse in its previous life was probably Frankfurt, one of Europe's financial centers.

The Grand Duchy of Hesse, you can understand the characteristics of this state literally, that is, there are many forests. Three-fifths of the country is covered by forests. It is the place with the most forests in Germany and has many river valleys and basins.

 The name of the East African Province of Hesse is largely due to the fact that the natural characteristics of Hesse Province are similar to those of the Grand Duchy of Hesse, that is, dense forests.

Hessian Province is located on the eastern edge of the Congolese rainforest and on the west side of the Mitumba Mountains, so it has abundant rainfall and is covered with mountainous plateaus, so the forest coverage rate reaches more than 75%.

 It does not reach 90%. That is because after merging the southern Mitumba Province, part of the Katanga Plateau was acquired, and the Katanga Plateau has a typical savannah climate.

At the same time, by merging Mitumba Province, Hesse Province also borders Lake Solon (Lake Tanganyika). On the west side is the Congo River, the river with the largest flow in East Africa, and on the east side is Lake Tanganyika, the largest river in East Africa. It is the lake with the most fresh water resources, so Hesse Province is quite rich in water resources.

 At present, the development of Hesse Province is relatively good among the provinces in East Africa, and the East African Railway Company has also determined the overall plan of the Hesse Province section of the Central Railway after more than half a year of inspection.

"The Lualaba River (the upper reaches of the Congo River) is more than 1,800 kilometers long, but it has many rapids and waterfalls and poor water transportation conditions. This makes the development of north-south transportation in Hesse Province very unsatisfactory. Instead, it flows east-west. The transportation is connected to the Great Lakes Region, Lake Tanganyika, and the city of Bujumbura through railways and external connections. However, this also makes the economy of the entire Hesse Province easily fragmented. At the same time, due to the existence of the Congo rainforest, the gap between the north and the south of East Africa is There is also a lack of a major transportation artery connecting the hinterland, which is quite regrettable," said Bamir, an engineer with the East African Railway Company.

It would be great if the Lualaba River could be navigable, and there would even be no need to build the Hessen section of the Central Railway. However, due to terrain reasons, the Lualaba River passes through plateaus and plains, so the terrain has large differences, and there are many waterfalls and rapids. This makes the Lualaba River's navigation capacity very poor, and its corresponding hydropower resources are very rich.

“Downstream from Kisan City (Kisangani, the third largest city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly known as Stanleyville), all the way to Kinshasa, the main trunk road of the Congo River is a natural channel with very convenient water transportation. If it can be combined with Railway connectivity would also be of great benefit to East Africa’s development of the Congolese rainforest.”

 The city of Kisan was discovered by the Belgian explorer Stanley in a previous life because it is an important dividing point between the Congo River and the Lualaba River.

 The Kisangani Waterfalls are located here. The lower reaches are the navigable river section, and the Lualaba River is above the waterfalls.

"So now that the Central Railway and the Northern Railway are connected to the grid, a major point of difference is whether it passes through Kisan City. If it passes through Kisan City, it will be possible to connect the two railway arteries with the Congo River waterway. For Kisan It will be of great benefit to the development of the city. In the future, the development of Kisan City will even be no less than that of coastal cities.

And if it does not pass through the city of Kissan, the entire northern railway will move northward, and the main body will pass through New Bavaria Province (eastern Azande Plateau), and New Bavaria Province will definitely be happy to see this happen. "

This is the dispute between the north and south plans for the northern railway extension. In fact, both plans are in line with Ernst's ideas, and in Ernst's opinion, both are necessary to build, but which one is built first is very particular. , whichever one is built first, people along the line can also experience the dividends brought by the railway early. Christian, a student of Bamir, suggested: "In terms of distance, there is not much difference between the two plans. They both start from Kisumu and end in Bangui. The difficulty is also similar. The northern route plan passes through the Nile Basin. The southern line has to pass through the Congo Basin and through large areas of rainforest and swampland, so the most important thing is to consider the economic benefits brought by the railway, and the sooner the benefits can be obtained, the better."

"Then it is more reliable to choose the southern route option. One is that the economy of Hesse Province is now more active than that of New Bavaria. The other is that the Central Railway now passes through Hesse Province, and the Bujumbura City Railway is also a branch line of the Central Railway. , which overlaps.

Therefore, it is better to use the Northern Railway, so that the economy of Hesse Province can be connected to the two major regions at the same time. And I also have an immature idea, that is, when the economy along the Congo River develops in the future, this will be able to Mulberry City will form an important national transportation hub in East Africa, but the northern line plan cannot achieve this effect. "Bamir said to Christian.

An important function of a national transportation hub is to achieve economic interconnection. If you choose the southern route option, the northern industrial belt, the Great Lakes Region, Hesse Province, and the three inland provinces (Hohenzollern Province, Swabia, Matabele Province) economic ties can be greatly strengthened.

  Among them, the northern industrial belt has been developing well, especially in the field of light industry, making outstanding contributions to East Africa.

 The Great Lakes region is an important food and cash crop production base in East Africa. Relying on the Great Lakes, water transportation is convenient and fisheries are developed.

Hessian Province is also a resource-rich province. It is also the largest rubber-producing area and the largest forestry-producing area, and is relatively rich in various mineral resources.

As for the three inland provinces, they are the current core areas of development in East Africa. They are inland industrial bases that rely on massive mineral resources and superior natural environment.

Moreover, the existence of the Congo River must also be taken into consideration, thus forming an important transportation hub with three lines in one, which is the city of Kisan, the capital of Hesse Province.

Of course, the most important thing is that there are industries in Hesse Province now. In comparison, New Bavaria Province is much inferior, and the gap between the two provinces is all-round, whether it is population, resources, or others.

An important factor in railway construction is to be as close to cities or developed areas as possible, so it is natural to prefer Hesse.

However, these two railways are also the most difficult to build in East Africa, no less than the Siberian Railway. The two are two extremes, one with a cold climate and the other with a hot climate.

East Africa has to overcome terrain difficulties, while the Siberian Railway has to overcome the problem of frozen soil. However, they have many things in common, that is, there are many forests and swamps in the region, and the amount of logging and drainage projects alone is not small.

However, the overall difficulty of the Hessian railway is a little lower, because the problem of frozen soil is much more difficult to solve than the terrain, and the terrain of Hesse Province is not complicated, at least compared with other countries. The Mitumba Mountains are not naturally dangerous, although they are called It is a mountain range, in fact inseparable from the plateau, and its northern part is also known as the Itumbu Mountains or the Itumbu Plateau.

 (End of this chapter)