African Entrepreneurship Record

Currently, the United States has a railway network of over 200,000 kilometers, which means East Africa needs to build at least 200,000 kilometers of railway to meet nationwide demand. However, the U.S. railway network will continue to grow, and at its peak in the future, it may reach at least 400,000 kilometers. Facing such an exaggerated number, Ernst still needs to deliberate.

The mainland of East Africa is nearly twice the size of the mainland United States (as contemporary America does not include Alaska), so doubling the railway is justifiable. However, based on the development paths of Europe and America’s railways in the past, Ernst still needs to pay attention to some points.

Certainly, the exceedingly rapid railway development in the United States is closely related to the contemporary era. Primarily, Americans at the time couldn’t foresee the future massive scale development of the automobile, which almost became an essential mode of transportation for every American family.

Secondly, the Panama Canal had not yet been completed, making railways the primary mode of transportation between the East and West Coasts of the United States. If one were to go by sea, they would need to circumvent the entire South America, similar to how before the opening of the Suez Canal, Eurasian trade had to detour around the African coast.

Speaking of the Suez Canal, Ernst has mixed feelings. Without the Suez Canal, the economy of East Africa could certainly reach new heights. However, without the Suez Canal, East Africa’s expansion in Southern Africa over the past twenty years would not have been so smooth.

The opening of the Suez Canal reduced the importance of Africa to the Great Powers. Moreover, the main route for European immigrants to East Africa and import-export trade also became more convenient with the Suez Canal.

The establishment of East Africa is now solidified after the South African War, and the Great Powers can no longer change the pattern of Southern Africa. So without the Suez Canal...

Dispelling these complicated thoughts, Ernst said to Andre: ”The railway is a crucial mode of transportation that relates to national defense, the economy, and people’s livelihood. It cannot be entirely profit-driven. For instance, certain railway operations might incur a loss, but the economic pull on the local area is unimaginable. In general, East African railway construction must consider multiple aspects, including environmental issues such as ecological impact. Of course, we shouldn’t abandon the main goals due to minor concerns; currently, railway construction should still prioritize the development of national defense, the economy, and people’s livelihood.”

Ernst still places national defense as the top priority. In fact, the earliest focus of East African railway construction was primarily on national defense and security.

Back then, the main purpose of Central Railway construction was to control the Southern African region. At that time, Central and Southern East Africa was surrounded on three sides by hostile forces. The Central Railway, like an arm reaching out from the east, firmly secured the Central and Southern territories under East Africa’s control. The subsequent central economic development was just a matter of time.

Switching gears, Ernst said to Liu Yideville: ”The Ministry of Transportation also needs to actively collaborate with the railway department, especially in highway construction. Railways can’t reach every place; they are the main arteries, and highways serve a similar purpose. In fact, highways are even more crucial as they serve a capillary function, connecting cities, villages, railway hubs, and so on.”

East Africa is currently vigorously promoting highway upgrades, especially within major urban areas, where asphalt roads have already been laid.

At the end of the 18th century, during the Industrial Revolution, an Englishman named John Macadam designed a new method of road construction using crushed stone, with the road slightly raised in the center to facilitate drainage, creating flat and wide roads. These roads were named ”Macadam Roads,” after their designer, giving rise to the term ”macadamized roads.”

Asphalt road development has been relatively recent. Around the 1850s, France was the first to use rock asphalt on road surfaces, and by 1854 had built a near-modern thin layer of asphalt road surface in Paris, marking the beginning of hot-mix asphalt pavement.

In East Africa, there are very few asphalt roads, with constructions only in some coastal cities along the eastern coast. After all, the natural distribution of asphalt worldwide is extremely uneven, and naturally, East Africa is poorly endowed in this area. However, as a major power, it’s not entirely lacking. Ernst himself is aware that Congo has considerable bituminous sand resources, located at the Congo’s outlet, which largely overlaps with East Africa’s oil and gas resource distribution.

But that’s the responsibility of the mining department. Ernst only knows the approximate regions; development is a matter for the future. With the current industrial level, the world still primarily relies on natural asphalt, so East Africa also needs imports from Europe.

Furthermore, asphalt isn’t prohibitively expensive, and even though it offers a better experience than cement roads, cement roads also have their advantages. With substitute products available, prices won’t surge too much.

Liu Yideville said, ”As of last year, in the Hessen Province alone, we completed road surface hardening for 20,000 kilometers, vastly improving Hessen Province’s transportation condition. Other regions, although progressing relatively slowly, still show significant improvement compared to before.”

Hessen Province was the first to advance road surface hardening, as its road condition ranked low in East Africa. These improvements focused on optimizing road conditions in rainy areas like Hessen Province and the Great Lakes Region.

This is understandable, as the economic situation of these two regions isn’t entirely poor within East Africa, ranking at an upper-middle level. Coupled with strong demand, the progress was quick.

In other central and eastern regions, because they are located in grassland or plateau areas with early road construction, the roads can still hold up for a while.

”As of last year, the national total length of hardened roads exceeded 200,000 kilometers, which is considered fast-paced globally,” he emphasized.

Ernst nodded and said, ”The more developed the roads, the better. The current road situation in East Africa is far from sufficient, and we have a substantial gap compared to Europe and America. Thus, road construction is continually accelerating.”

”Moreover, with the future development of the automobile industry, the demand for roads will become even greater, potentially replacing some of the railways’ functions. This is one of the crucial indicators of our industrial innovation and regional development.”

Ultimately, the aim is to promote East Africa’s automobile industry. As a leading automotive ”great power,” the driving experience on the majority of East Africa’s roads is not quite satisfactory.

Of course, unlike trains, automobiles are not confined to tracks. As long as a place is flat, access is generally possible, though it may be bumpy.

Take military vehicles, for example; off-road performance is a key indicator, and here vast East African plains serve as ”roads,” though there’s some wastage.

Apart from railways and highways, water transport is also a crucial part of East Africa’s transportation system. However, East Africa’s water transport conditions are poor, so there’s not much to say about it. Currently, the main focus is still land-based transportation development.

However, looking at the nation as a whole, water transport conditions are poor, but this is not the case when viewed regionally. Especially within East Africa, there are many large lakes. Of the world’s top fifty largest lakes, six are located in East Africa, including three in the global top ten. The Great Lake (Lake Victoria) ranks third in the world, trailing only the Caspian Sea and Lake Superior.

Moreover, these three large lakes in East Africa are clustered in the eastern region, making lake shipping quite developed, with a rapid growth rate.

These lakes are also important sources of fishery resources in East Africa, providing freshwater fishery resources inland comparable to coastal areas.

The only drawback is that these lakes are relatively isolated and have not formed an interconnected network like the Great Lakes, which could aid in the decentralization of water resources.

Additionally, the highland lakes primarily impose certain restrictions on East Africa’s territory. For instance, the existence of Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika makes Mbeya the sole passageway in between.

This will remain true in the future, as Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika have depths reaching several hundred meters and large surface areas, making them unsuitable for bridge construction. Thus, future transportation on the east and west banks will mainly rely on ferries.