African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1366 Debern's Ambition

Kitwe city area.

The Kafue River runs through the city of Kitwe. The Kafue River was one of the main rivers in Zambia in the past. It originates in the mountainous area in the north of the Copperbelt in East Africa and eventually flows through the city of Lusaka in East Africa and merges into the Zambezi River.

Its direction coincides with that of the copper belt, especially the copper belt in the Central Province of East Africa. It can be said that this river was the most important river in Zambia in the past.

Its length, basin area and surrounding economy all occupied an important position in Zambia in the past, and the city of Kitwe is located on the upper reaches of this river.

The upper and middle reaches of the Kafue River have relatively flat terrain and numerous tributaries, which nourish large tracts of land in the Central Province. At the same time, nearly 20 kilometers downstream, due to the abrupt changes in terrain, the water resources are very rich.

However, this also led to a significant reduction in its shipping value. As a result, the East African government reshaped the local shipping value through artificial canals, and the city of Kitwe benefited greatly from this.

However, following the Kitwe City Economic Conference, the Kitwe City Government also made a new decision on the disposal of Kafue, the "Mother River".

DeBern said: "The Kafue River is the mother river of Kitwe City. In the past, due to economic development, we have severely damaged the ecology of the Kafue River."

“It is mainly the discharge of industrial and domestic sewage that has had a very bad impact on the Kafue River within our territory.”

“At the same time, social and production activities along the river have also had adverse impacts on the Kafue River, such as overgrazing, deforestation, and destruction of coastal vegetation.”

“This has caused the water quality of the Kafue River to become very bad and has also caused serious soil erosion problems. Therefore, the Kafue River and other rivers in Kitwe must be regulated.”

Kitwe City is one of the sources of the Kafue River. Of course, the Kitwe City here mainly refers to the administrative area of ​​the entire Kitwe City, including its affiliated towns and villages, that is, the entire prefecture-level city.

This is also the main reason why Kitwe has become the second largest city in the copper belt. The towns under Kitwe basically follow the lead of Kitwe, at least administratively.

DeBern went on to say: “For the management of the Kafue River, the first thing is to protect the ecological environment of its source, that is, the natural environment of the northwestern mountainous area, set up a protection zone, and limit the damage and development of the source water area.”

"In the middle section, including the urban area, sewage treatment should be done well. At the same time, vegetation along the river should be restored, natural protection zones should be established on both sides of the river, farmland should be returned to forest and grassland, and soil erosion should be reduced and prevented."

Kitwe City is one of the highly industrialized regions in East Africa. Although the urban area of ​​Kitwe has a population of only more than 300,000, far less than Lubumbashi, the smaller towns under Kitwe City have all developed well, mainly in industry and mining.

With so many industrial and mining towns, plus the urban area of ​​Kitwe, one can imagine the extent of damage to the environment, especially when the local industry is dominated by heavy industry.

However, the development of agriculture and tertiary industries in Kitwe City is not ideal. They have not been given enough attention for a long time, so their development is relatively rough.

Debern aims to change this situation. Kitwe City only has heavy industry and is overly dependent on the copper mining industry, which makes the industrial development of Kitwe City very unbalanced. To put it bluntly, the industry in Kitwe City is a lopsided one among lopsided ones.

Take the Bohemian Industrial Zone south of Kitwe City for example. Although its industries are also dominated by heavy industry, the industrial chain and industrial types are also richer due to the diversified natural resources in the Bohemian Industrial Zone.

Even if the development of heavy industry is constrained, it will not be a fatal blow to it. The city of Kitwe is now completely dependent on the copper mining industry, and the risk of economic development is even higher than that of the Bohemian Industrial Zone.

"Kitwe's ecological problems are very serious now, which has affected the development of our agriculture, environmental protection and service industries," Debern said.

Copper mining and smelting in Kitwe have caused damage to local land, vegetation and water sources, and this damage has shown great power. After all, Kitwe has been developing for decades. With the expansion of mining and metallurgy, the scope of impact is also getting bigger and bigger.

"Take agriculture for example. A lot of land has been polluted and destroyed by the mining industry. The development of the metallurgical industry has had a bad impact on arable land, with excessive heavy metals in the soil, soil erosion, desertification and other negative phenomena emerging."

“Although our city’s output is mainly supported by the copper mining industry, this is unsustainable. Kitwe’s copper reserves are limited after all. Agriculture, if maintained well, can be a long-term business for generations to come.”

"Therefore, we cannot sacrifice long-term interests for the sake of immediate benefits. It is urgent to protect land, vegetation and water resources."

“In the past, we didn’t have the ability to do this. After all, in the early stages of development, everything was based on accumulating original capital. But now that Kitwe’s economy has developed, we can no longer do stupid things that would cut off our roots. We should look to the long term.”

“Pollution first and then treatment no longer meets the actual needs of our city. If we continue to hold on to this outdated concept, we will all become sinners in Kitwe City in the future.”

“As for the tertiary industry, a region with a poor ecological environment will obviously have a negative impact on local commerce, services, tourism, etc. After all, with the trend of increasingly prominent environmental awareness, if the natural environment of Kitwe City further deteriorates, it will inevitably reduce the flow of external funds, population, advanced industries and scientific research resources to our city.”

This is easy to understand. Compared with other countries in the world, although East Africa's environmental awareness is not too deep, it is much ahead of other industrial countries.

While some people in cities such as London, Paris and New York are still proud of industrial wastewater and exhaust gas, which are symbols of "industrial civilization", at least most people in East Africa know that these are harmful to health.

If the environment in Kitwe is not improved, some people who value their own health will obviously not choose Kitwe as their permanent residence in the future. Population loss will further lead to the shrinkage of the local market, and market shrinkage will further promote population outflow, forming a vicious circle.

After all, if not forced by life, ordinary people will eventually yearn for green mountains and clear waters, but the economies of most countries in the world have not yet developed to that level.

At the beginning of the 20th century, most people in the world were struggling to make ends meet and did not pay much attention to the quality of life in order to survive.

In Deborn's view, Kitwe obviously cannot just go with the flow. After all, Kitwe is a relatively industrially developed region in the world, and its economic level has reached a critical point.

Therefore, Debern believes that, at least in relatively economically developed areas such as the Copper Belt, basic food and clothing issues no longer exist, and some people are able to pursue a higher quality of life.

Moreover, judging from the current development situation in East Africa, the national economic level will further improve, and the tertiary industry may surpass the secondary industry in the future and become the pillar of the national economy.

If we want to develop the tertiary industry, we must seize the opportunity and make timely arrangements. At least in terms of the ecological environment, Kitwe should be ahead of other industrial cities in East Africa and build Kitwe into a place with beautiful scenery. Of course, Debern obviously has deeper considerations. According to his observations and thinking, the entire copper belt has long pursued growth in industrial output and neglected the development of other fields due to the convergence of industries.

This is also true for Lubumbashi, which currently has a higher economic advantage than Kitwe. Although Lubumbashi has much better talents than Kitwe, precisely because of this, Lubumbashi's sense of crisis is lower than Kitwe's.

In this regard, Debern said: "In the copper belt, all industrial towns have long developed heavy industry, focusing on industrial output and ignoring the development of other areas. However, from my personal observation, new changes have taken place in the country's economy."

"Especially in the copper belt, which is in the upper middle of the national economy. Its industry is not number one, but it ranks among the top, and it ranks among the top three in the central region."

"However, our copper belt lacks cities that are well-known in the country and the world, and this is also true for Lubumbashi."

"Although Lubumbashi is one of the top ten cities in the country, its popularity may not be as high as that of Maputo, Benguela and other cities, and is even slightly higher than that of Kitwe. This is because it is a provincial capital and an economically developed city."

"The entire copper belt lacks a signature city, lacks domestic and international recognition, lacks a high-end consumer and service center, lacks a tourism center city, and the ecological environment is even more terrible."

"You know, the economy and people's spending power in the copper belt are still good, but rich people prefer to go on vacation, travel and spend money in other areas, such as New Frankfurt, Rhine City, etc."

"Rhineland is the capital after all, so it's understandable, but New Frankfurt is not much more economically developed than Lubumbashi. The two can be said to be cities of the same level, but people in Lubumbashi prefer to go to New Frankfurt for shopping, vacations, and consumption."

"What is the reason for this? Why doesn't Lubumbashi attract new Frankfurt people to Lubumbashi?"

De Boerne also gave an answer: "Compared with New Frankfurt, Lubumbashi is a city without any characteristics, and the environment is also poor. If it is not for work or other reasons, who would be willing to go to Lubumbashi?"

“Of course, this is especially true for our city of Kitwe, which has a mediocre economy, a poor ecological environment, a mediocre business environment, a low level of service industry, and a lack of visibility, etc.”

“We can say that our situation is even worse than Lubumbashi. Apart from people working in the non-ferrous metals industry and certain industries, it is difficult for us to attract people and other businesses.”

"So, now that we know about this situation, we must make changes. As I said before, we must look at the long term, and the first step is to take advantage of this opportunity of industrial adjustment to rectify the ecological problems in our city."

"Our city has mountains, water, plains and swamps, and is located at the intersection of rainforest and grassland. This is our city's precious wealth and natural advantage."

"So the first step is to regulate the production of mines, promote the management of slag and mine pits, regulate the rational use of water resources in mining areas, reduce and eliminate unreasonable water discharge and other problems, and at the same time carry out ecological restoration work for some abandoned mines."

"The second is to constrain related enterprises and factories, with the government taking the lead in building sewage treatment plants and promoting the use of clean energy such as oil, natural gas and electricity."

At the beginning of the 20th century, oil was obviously a clean energy source compared to coal, which was more polluting. Of course, what Debern meant mainly was to eliminate a number of old antique steam machines used by enterprises, which were not only inefficient but also seriously polluting.

“Third, as mentioned earlier, is the remediation and restoration of the ecology of places along the Kafue River and other rivers, while promoting the maintenance of the Kitwe section of the Central Canal.”

"Fourth, we should conduct comprehensive treatment of some polluted land, especially cultivated land, to reduce the harm of heavy metal pollution to food safety."

"Fifth, we will conduct comprehensive environmental management in the urban area, further improve the urban environment, and create a garden-type city in the region and even the country. At the same time, we will design the city's style and scenic spots, build city history museums, art galleries, sports centers, football stadiums, etc., and introduce and build a number of high-quality consumer-oriented enterprises, especially domestically or internationally renowned supermarkets."

Regarding the fifth point mentioned by Debern, these measures are all measures that can attract tourists and consumers. Of course, the specific effect will depend on the subsequent operations of the City of Kitwe.

Museums, art galleries, and sports centers all need to be well-known, and they also require continuous investment after they are built, such as hosting regional, national, and even global sports events, art exhibitions, academic conferences, etc.

Of course, Kitwe City does not have the capability or ability to host a world sporting event for the time being.

Consumer-oriented businesses such as supermarkets have a strong ability to boost consumption in cities, especially well-known supermarkets, chain stores and shopping malls.

Of course, Debern does not just want to empty the wallets of Kitwe residents to promote consumption and drive Kitwe's industrial development. His purpose in doing so actually includes the entire copper belt.

Because the copper belt currently lacks relevant consumption venues, especially high-end consumption venues, Deborn believes that if consumers from the entire copper belt can be attracted to shop in Kitwe, it will be a huge benefit. After all, there are dozens of towns large and small in the copper belt, and the consumption capacity is considerable.

DeBern went on to say: “Sixth, vigorously support the establishment of high-tech industries in Kitwe City, especially other types of manufacturing, especially scientific research and innovative enterprises, preferably those with low dependence on mineral resources.”

This time, Kitwe City wants to get rid of its dependence on copper mines. In fact, apart from copper mines, Kitwe City does not have any other resources with outstanding advantages, so Debern welcomes companies with low dependence on natural resources.

“Seventh, it is to improve the development of basic livelihood areas such as urban transportation, education, and medical care, so that Kitwe can become a city suitable for living and with a high level of happiness in the empire.”

Although Kitwe is unable to build a high-level university due to limited conditions, improving the quality of basic compulsory education will obviously increase the city's livability and attract people to settle down.

Moreover, although high-quality universities can attract a lot of talents, they are not necessarily the best choice for Kitwe. After all, retaining talents requires industrial cooperation, which is what Kitwe currently lacks.

Furthermore, if basic education is improved, the impact of whether there are high-quality universities on Kitwe City will be further weakened, after all, university students have high mobility.

In the past, education in the Far Eastern Empire was like this. There were many school district houses around elementary schools, middle schools and high schools. But when it came to higher education, the concept of school district houses was no longer important.

After all, the threshold for higher education is high, which means uncertainty. In addition, students are old enough to live independently. Coupled with factors such as convenient transportation, higher education is not as attractive to immigrants as imagined.

The Kitwe City Government acted quickly. Less than three months after Deborn decided to change the direction of Kitwe's development, the ecological environment improvement activities in Kitwe began in full swing. According to Deborn, the ecological environment is the foundation for Kitwe's future development. Only by solving this major problem can other policies be better implemented.

(End of this chapter)