African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1238: Chapter 247: Reservoir Resettlement

Jezira City in East Africa holds a position somewhat similar to the Ili River Valley in the Far East Empire, as one of the few habitable areas in the northern desert of East Africa.

The development model is not much different from Egypt and the Sultanate, after all, they all rely on the Nile River for sustenance, which is the only water source for these three regions.

Of course, when the Sultanate once occupied Darfur, it received some rainfall, but now Darfur has fallen into the hands of East Africa, and the rainfall in other areas of the Sultanate is almost negligible.

As for the southern region of the Sultanate, which had a relatively suitable climate in the previous life, it has long since turned into East Africa’s territory decades ago.

East Africa’s decision to delay resolving the Darfur issue is naturally the best approach at the current stage, as it not only avoids escalating conflicts with the United Kingdom but also effectively occupies the Darfur area.

As for the future, the United Kingdom will have no opportunity to sow discord between the Darfur region and East Africa because, by that time, the indigenous people of Darfur will be gone.

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North Lake Province.

Jinga City, Yablon Village.

The entire northeastern region of the Great Lakes Region has recently been busy with a major matter, which is the resettlement of reservoir area migrants.

Many villages are being relocated entirely, and Yablon Village is one of them. The government-provided vehicles are helping local villagers move their belongings.

”Tarolin, the villagers are all here. Should the convoy set off?” Mayor Ma Jin of Will Town in Jinga City asked an East African officer.

Tarolin said, ”Have the people’s belongings all been brought? This is a complete relocation, and if there are any left-behind materials, we won’t come back to collect them.”

Mayor Ma Jin replied, ”Rest assured! The villagers don’t have many possessions, and nothing major is left behind except the houses. Even the less valuable things like chairs and benches have all been loaded onto the trucks.”

Tarolin said, ”It’s best to let them think carefully and check one more time; we’re not in a hurry to leave.”

Mayor Ma Jin: ”Alright, I’ll go talk to the village head and make sure not even a needle is left behind here.”

This migration project also involves the East African Defense Army, as their tasks are quite numerous, especially since East Africa has transitioned from a militaristic state to a normal country, focusing more on military development and shaping a positive image of the military.

Soon, Mayor Ma Jin came in front of the villagers, called over the village head of Yablon, gave him a few instructions, and after the villagers repeatedly confirmed, Tarolin finally gave the order to set off.

A grand convoy officially set off, heading from Yablon Village to the national highway of East Africa.

And as the villagers sitting in the back of the trucks watched their homeland slowly disappear, they began to chat.

Liu Hande: ”After leaving this time, I’m afraid we’ll never see our village again. I heard that the whole Great Lake will submerge this place by then. I wonder if it’s true.”

Village head Herag said, ”Don’t talk nonsense. According to water experts, apart from some low-lying areas that might be completely flooded, the water level is expected to rise only by one or two meters at most, which could at most submerge half a person in our village.”

”In contrast, the farmland near the lake will be greatly affected. Although the Great Lake is vast, a rise of one or two meters will submerge a considerable area, including the farmland close to the lakeshore, and even roads might be affected.”

The Great Lake is what was known as Lake Victoria in the previous life. This massive lake, spanning thousands of square kilometers, is larger than some countries, so the rising water levels of the reservoir will affect a large area, impacting much of the southeastern shore of the Great Lakes Region.

Liu Hande: ”Village head, isn’t it unwise to build this reservoir? We’re exchanging so much arable land for a hydroelectric station, and it’s not like East Africa is lacking in electricity.”

Herag replied, ”The issues you can think of are surely considered by the government as well. Do you think the Empire lacks this bit of land?”

”The Empire’s area ranks second in the world, only behind Tsarist Russia, and there are vast undeveloped regions, so they certainly don’t lack the lands around the Great Lake region.”

Liu Hande argued, ”The Empire has a vast territory, but the quality of the land here is the best in the country. Losing it makes me feel quite uneasy.”

Herag: ”It serves you right to till the fields your entire life. Once the reservoir is completed, the Empire can develop more farmland. We’re not short of land, but we are short of water! Properly utilizing water resources means what is lost will eventually be regained.”

”We have abundant rainfall here, but across the country, water resources are relatively scarce, especially in the south and north, where even water for daily usage can be an issue. Solving water usage problems is key to building the national economy better.”

Liu Hande: ”But what does this have to do with us building a reservoir here? After all, the Great Lake is a natural reservoir, isn’t this redundant?”

Herag: ”Clearly, you didn’t pay attention in geography class during compulsory education. Don’t you know the Great Lake is a major source of the Nile River?”

”Most of the water from the Great Lake eventually flows into the Nile. If we don’t intercept it, this water will just benefit the Egyptians for nothing, so the primary function of this reservoir is to retain water in East Africa and satisfy our agricultural and industrial water needs.”

”The constructed hydroelectric station will then supply electricity to the surrounding cities and villages. Nowadays, electricity consumption is growing, and the gap is increasingly large, so building more hydroelectric stations and reservoirs is always right.”

”As for your point about redundancy, that’s also superficial. Expanding the water area can regulate climate and increase precipitation. Although we usually have favorable weather, it doesn’t mean there’s nothing to worry about. I remember in 1886, we suffered from a major drought here.”

”Back then, despite ample water in the Great Lakes Region, there were few pumps and pump stations, and our eastern part of the Great Lakes was an area with relatively less rainfall.”

”Particularly, the place on the west of the East African Rift Valley, separated from us by mountains, is a very arid region nationwide. Dodoma, you should know, receives only half the rainfall we do.”

After a detailed explanation, village head Herag succeeded in convincing Liu Hande. However, it’s clear that even his understanding is not very comprehensive.

East Africa’s series of measures in the Great Lakes Region are actually related to the East African Government’s strategy for developing the lakeside economic belt, as well as the water resource strategic security of East African countries.

Once the development strategy for the lakeside economic belt is launched, there’s no turning back, so East Africa must preemptively solve some natural obstacles for future implementation.

This includes ecology in the Great Lakes Region, water resource utilization, construction and development of lakeside ports, cities and villages along the lakeside, roads, railways, agriculture, and other important issues.

The Xingguo Reservoir was proposed in this context. If East Africa doesn’t start this project now, it will be too late in the future.

This is just like some large reservoir projects of the Far East Empire in its previous life, where if the region wasn’t economically backward and instead had large cities, just relocating the population wouldn’t proceed smoothly.

Even so, the construction of the Three Gorges Dam in the Far East Empire in past lives still submerged two cities, eleven county towns, and over 110 towns and villages.

Now, as the Great Lakes Region serves as an agricultural production base for East Africa, city development has been relatively slow. Building the Xingguo Reservoir at this time incurs the least loss. If they wait for local economic development to progress, the cost would be too substantial.

Obviously, if local economic development had progressed, East Africa might direct abandonment of the Xingguo Reservoir construction, as the downstream region of the Xingguo Reservoir isn’t comparable to that of the Three Gorges Dam.

One of the major purposes of the Three Gorges Dam construction was to ensure the safety of cities and agricultural areas downstream of the Yangtze River, whereas for the downstream of the Great Lake, besides Jezira City and Juba, there aren’t many major cities.