African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1243: Chapter 252: Water Rights

However, this flourishing of multiple industries is only limited to the cities along the Great Lake, and does not cover the entire Great Lakes Region. For the East African Government, the Great Lakes Region is a grain production base, so sacrificing too much agricultural land for industrial development is not feasible.

On the other hand, the future industrial structure in East Africa will obviously be dominated by coastal and central areas, and it’s clearly unsustainable to go against the economic development patterns.

The reason the central region, which isn’t coastal, is special, lies in administration, resources, and transportation. With the capital, Rhein City, located in the center, this needs no further elaboration.

Regarding mineral resources, the central area is second only to the south, but it doesn’t lack water resources, and has a favorable climate and good foundation for industry and agriculture, which the southern area lacks.

Transportation-wise, East Africa’s railway, highways, and canal intersections are in the center. East Africa’s two major railway hubs are New Frankfurt City and Rhein City, which are also major highway hubs. Furthermore, the central part is the mid-section of East Africa’s canal, connecting East Africa’s eastern and western coastal areas.

In the future, the central region will also become the core hub for domestic aviation in East Africa. Apart from maritime shipping, transportation in the central area is extremely developed and convenient.

From the cities in the central area, this point is evident: the economy of Mbeya City, Harare City, New Frankfurt City, and Bulawayo City rank among the top ten nationwide in East Africa, while cities like Rhein City, Lusaka, Jisan City, Tete City and others are developing rapidly, and smaller industrial mining cities in the central area are too numerous to count.

During the early industrialization stage, the economic scale of East Africa’s central area was astonishing and occupied nearly half of the nation’s economy, especially in heavy industry. Of course, with further reductions in maritime costs and the arrival of resource exhaustion, the central economy will inevitably be impacted.

However, the future of the central economy is not fearful, given East Africa’s investment in emerging industries in the central area is relatively early. Cities like Mbeya City and Rhein City are typical techno-educational cities, while New Frankfurt City and Jisan City are typical light industry cities.

From the perspective of industrial layout, the central area’s industries are comparatively reasonable and healthy, at least not experiencing the situation like the German Ruhr District afterwards.

Regarding the central area’s resource exhaustion problem, it mostly involves some small industrial mining towns. East Africa’s development of central mining has a history of several decades, inevitably leading to premature exhaustion for some small mining areas.

Despite the bleak prospects for these mining towns, they still have considerable assets left behind.

Take East Africa’s nationwide railways, the central area is the densest. Out of East Africa’s over 200,000 kilometers of railways, many were constructed for these mining areas. The buildings, equipment, and other infrastructure left behind are numerous.

During the ”Four-Five” period, a significant task for the East African Government was to guide the central area, particularly the provinces of Bohemia and Lorraine, in actively developing other industries, shedding dependence on heavy industry, and diversifying development.

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Rhein City.

Sivert is reporting the construction progress of the Great Lakes Region projects to Ernst.

”Currently, a series of preliminary works in the Great Lakes Region are progressing smoothly. A total of thirteen ports are being remodeled and constructed, while adjustments to some highway and railway lines are underway.”

”The most crucial water and electricity facility constructions are also progressing smoothly. Once completed, the water resource allocation capabilities of our northern areas will be further enhanced.”

”Especially in the Nile River basin’s Nile River Province, the water usage issues centered around Lake Turkana in Turkana Province will be greatly alleviated.”

The water resource conditions in Turkana Province and Nile River Province are starkly opposite. In the Nile River Province, the further north, the more water-scarce, extending to the desert regions of Sudan.

In Turkana Province, the further south, the more water-scarce. Turkana Province can be divided into two parts: one is the former Ethiopian region, the other is the former northern Kenya region.

The Ethiopian Highlands region has abundant precipitation, while the precipitation situation in the former northern Kenya was only slightly better than the Somali Desert.

This can be seen from Lake Turkana, whose main water source is the Omo River originating from the Ethiopian Highlands, flowing from north to south into Lake Turkana.

Thus, in Turkana Province, many rivers originate from the Ethiopian Highlands region, with fewer coming from the East African Plateau, such as the Tecwell River also flowing into Lake Turkana.

Sivert continued: ”Our development of water resources in the Great Lakes Region will alleviate the drought problems in both areas, thereby transforming the local ecology and climate, greatly enhancing the livability of both regions.”

”Utilizing the two water towers of the East African Plateau and Ethiopian Highlands allows us to realize agricultural and industrial development for the northern region.”

For East Africa, the fundamental issue in developing the northern region is the utilization and development of water resources, which is more critical than in the South Africa region.

After all, East Africa’s north is adjacent to the world’s largest Sahara Desert, historically threatened by desertification, in regions like South Sudan, Somalia, and Kenya.

The most typical of these is the East African Nile River Province situated in the Sahel Zone, while other areas, such as the Azande Plateau bordering the Sahara Desert, are naturally protected from desert encroachment.

The situation differs for the Nile River Province, which mainly features a basin terrain. Though its north is protected by the Kordofan Plateau, it has vulnerabilities, making it susceptible to desert threats.

Historically, Ernst expanded the Nile River Province territory into the former North Sudan area to access Sudan’s oil resources, resulting in most new areas having a tropical desert climate. The typical example is Jezira City, located near the Nile River, almost protruding into Sudan’s administrative center, Khartoum.

Of course, this is an exaggeration, as the straight-line distance between Jezira City and Khartoum is nearly 200 kilometers.

Ernst stated: ”Using the water resources of the Ethiopian Highlands and East African Plateau wisely allows us to develop many ecological zones in the Nile River Province and Turkana Province. Whether these areas become forests, grasslands, farmlands, or towns, it’s beneficial for us.”

This kind of inter-regional water transfer project in Africa is something only East Africa could accomplish, given previously these areas belonged to different countries, making coordination very difficult.

For instance, the southern part of Turkana Province belonged to Kenya, while the north was Ethiopian. If Kenya wanted to use Ethiopia’s water resources, it was virtually impossible. Instead, Ethiopia’s upstream reservoir construction cut off the water supply originally designated for Kenyan regions.

Competition for ”water rights” along the Nile River was even more intense. Historically, Egypt went to great lengths over water issues, having disputes and even conflicts with Sudan, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Uganda, and others.

Undoubtedly, with East Africa’s emergence, Egypt would only fare worse than before. Historically, Egypt had the strongest military in Africa, holding significant advantages over upstream Nile countries.

An East African giant of such scale is clearly a challenge Egypt cannot contend with.

Not only Egypt, East Africa’s control over water resources can be seen in its geographic layout. For example, the headwaters of the Shari River, relied upon by the Southern German Kingdom, are within East African territory.

Of course, for East Africa, the Southern German Kingdom is not comparable to Egypt, an infidel state, so East Africa certainly won’t treat the Southern German Kingdom as unethically as it does Egypt.

Among the countries entangled with East Africa over water resources, only Egypt and the Southern German Kingdom stand out, with Darfur potentially joining as another country forcibly split from Sudan.

The other countries bordering East Africa either do not lack water or their water systems have little relationship with East Africa. For example, Belgian Congo, under tropical rainforest climate, has abundant and even excessive water resources. The United Kingdom’s South African colony, separated from East Africa by the Orange River, also has ample coastal water resources.