African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1208: Chapter 217: New Energy City

Take the iron mines in East Africa, for example; East Africa’s iron ore resources are quite abundant, with large iron mines existing from south to north and east to west. However, they are relatively lacking in coal.

Yet, despite the abundance of iron ore resources, the steel production in East Africa grows too quickly; just last year it reached over thirty million tons, equivalent to ten times that at the beginning of the century, thus East Africa has a huge consumption of iron ore and imports a lot of resources from India and the Middle East every year.

Therefore, Pasteur believes that if Western Australia also has iron mines, and of considerable scale, it might be worth some attention.

So he said to Howard, ”I wonder if I could see the samples?”

Howard, being here for business, did not refuse since Pasteur showed interest.

”Of course, but I left the samples at the hotel. If you want to see the finished products, you’ll have to wait until we return. But right now, I’m more interested in visiting the industrial zone of Dar es Salaam. If Mr. Pasteur is interested, we can discuss it tonight.” said Howard.

”That sounds good as well!” replied Pasteur.

After all, whether the iron mines Howard mentioned exist, whether they have economic value, and what their reserves and quality are remain unknowns.

Unlike Pasteur’s uncertainties, Emperor Ernst of the Empire has ample confidence in Western Australia’s mineral resources.

However, Ernst doesn’t plan to expose the potential of Australia’s iron and other resources ahead of time, which is why East Africa hasn’t vigorously developed Western Australia’s mineral resources yet.

Australia’s mineral resources, like the abundant coal and oil resources of East Kalimantan, are bait in Ernst’s hands, prepared for the future reshaping of the Nanyang and Pacific dynamics, so these resources will only be revealed at the appropriate time.

As for commercial actions purely based on luck, like Pasteur’s, the East African government naturally would not interfere. In reality, East Africa’s private capital is just beginning; at least projects Howard finds difficult to complete, Pasteur will likely find challenging as well, unless he partners with more people.

Because Howard wasn’t in a hurry to return to the hotel and continued touring the southern port area of Dar es Salaam City, Pasteur continued to act as the tour guide.

”Ahead is the place with the cooling tower and large chimneys; that’s the Parsim Power Plant. The power industry in East Africa has developed astonishingly, and the penetration rate of electricity and appliances is the highest in the world.”

”By tomorrow, when the exposition officially begins, it will likely open everyone’s eyes. East Africa’s progress in electronics over the years has been rapid, covering all fields such as clothing, food, housing, and transportation.”

The Parsim Power Plant is the latest power plant constructed in Dar es Salaam City, and one of the largest as well. Ninety percent of Dar es Salaam City’s electricity comes from thermal power, with only ten percent from hydropower, primarily transmitted through high-voltage lines from other regions into the city.

Thus, thermal power plants are currently crucial pillars for industrial operation in Dar es Salaam City. About thirty percent of their coal is imported from India.

Evidently, Dar es Salaam City is relatively lacking in energy, but this situation will change in the future. At least, with the construction of upstream hydropower stations, the electricity issue in the eastern part of East Africa will be greatly alleviated in the future.

The hydroelectric potential in East Africa is tremendous, especially in the east. The terrain drop at the junction of the plateau and the coastal plain offers excellent sites for building hydroelectric power stations.

For instance, about ten percent of Dar es Salaam City’s hydropower comes from the mountain reservoir power stations in the western Morogoro region.

Looking at the towering power plant ahead, Howard exclaimed, ”This should be the largest thermal power station I’ve ever seen. Although Perth also has power plants, they seem tiny compared to the Parsim Power Plant.”

Perth, being the capital of Western Australia and the headquarters of the Western Australia and East Africa Business Association.

Of course, Perth is nothing more than a small city in East Africa. After all, Australia’s entire population is just over four million, most residing in the east, leaving Perth with only a little over a hundred thousand people, many coming from last century’s gold rush.

Thus, Dar es Salaam City is over ten times larger than Perth, and its industry is more developed, consuming an unimaginable amount of electricity for Howard.

Pasteur said, ”The entire population of Dar es Salaam City is in the millions, and just to supply electricity to these people, the government and enterprises need to exert a lot of effort, and in reality, the scale of industrial electricity consumption is even larger.”

”In the two industrial zones of Dar es Salaam City, the electricity consumption reaches about seventy-eight percent of the whole city. The Parsim Power Plant supplies electricity to hundreds of companies and factories in the vicinity, many of which are extremely high energy consumers.”

Looking at the industrial forest of factories ahead, Howard said, ”I’ve also been to London. The factories and companies there are more densely packed, and the population is larger, but London’s environment is really deplorable, with smoke permeating the air. Although the industrial zones in Dar es Salaam City also have smoke, the situation is clearly much better than in London, probably because of your extensive use of non-steam power.”

Pasteur nodded and said, ”Whether it’s electricity or the internal combustion engine usage, the pollution they generate is far less than that of steam engines, which is why there are relatively fewer chimneys in Dar es Salaam City.”

”Of course, apart from industry, residential fuel is also a significant factor. Now East African households can cook using appliances or liquefied gas, greatly reducing the usage of coal or dry wood, which easily produce large amounts of smoke.”

”Because of many families’ cooking habits, the biggest pollution in East African households now is probably ’pot smoke,’ that is, the oil fumes generated when cooking oil is added in domestic kitchens. So now many East African houses simply use oil fume channels instead of chimneys, or further, they use range hoods and stoves.”

Howard found it hard to understand the scenarios Pasteur described. After all, cooking methods in East Africa are diverse, but the Far East Empire’s cooking style undoubtedly dominates.

And as a British man, Howard originally didn’t cook, nor did he understand the cooking techniques of certain nations, making it difficult for him to imagine the current state of East African kitchens.

However, he at least understood Pasteur’s intended message: East Africa is reducing exhaust emissions both in industrial fuel and residential fuel usage, which is why the skies in East Africa appear particularly blue.

Of course, as a coastal city, Dar es Salaam City naturally doesn’t easily accumulate smog or pollutants. A breeze from the Indian Ocean can refresh the entire city.

And Howard evidently knew this, so what truly surprised him was Dar es Salaam City’s sewage system.

Regarding this, Pasteur explained, ”Dar es Salaam City naturally lacks man-made canals, so you cannot see the sewage overflow scenes like the Thames River in the United Kingdom.”

”The sewage and rainwater treatment systems of Dar es Salaam City, the underground network systems, are all designed and constructed by ourselves, and treatment is made according to water quality, for instance, a sewage treatment plant exists in the southern port area.”

However, the sewage treatment plant that Pasteur mentioned actually plays a limited role. At least, wanting to handle all of Dar es Salaam City’s industrial wastewater exceeds its capacity; most industrial and household wastewater in Dar es Salaam City is still directly discharged into the Indian Ocean.

Nonetheless, even so, it is enough to surprise Howard, the Australian country bumpkin, given that many cities have no sewage treatment plants, at least Perth has none. So Howard naturally assumes that East Africans value environmental and ecological protection.