African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1522 Water Conservancy Expert
Paraguay, Bolivia, and Uruguay play a role in the eyes of East Africa similar to that of Japan and South Korea to the United States in the past: they are easy to control, while also serving to restrain Argentina and Brazil.

Bolivia and Paraguay could ensure that East Africa could monitor and manipulate the situation in the heart of South America. This strategic significance is equivalent to the US occupation of Afghanistan in the previous era, which threatened the Far Eastern empire and the heartland of Russia. Of course, the US ultimately failed to achieve this.

Uruguay can ensure the presence of the East African Navy on the east coast of South America, and together with Venezuela in the north and south, they can monitor the entire east coast of South America.

These military deployments have essentially established East Africa's strategic advantage throughout South America, further consolidating East Africa's military hegemony in the South Atlantic.

……

If conditions permit, East Africa would also like to take the opportunity to renovate the Paraná River basin, especially the section between Porto Suarez and Porto Colomba, but this is clearly not feasible at this time.

First, the Paraná River is not native to East Africa, so East Africa would not be willing to pay for South Americans to dredge the river. Second, due to the economic crisis at that time, South American countries did not have the funds to fund East Africa's projects. Finally, there was a conflict of interest.

Paraguay, Bolivia, and Uruguay are relatively easy to deal with, but Argentina and Brazil are not very interested in the Paraná River renovation, so the attitudes of different countries towards the Paraná River renovation vary.

Mocha, a water conservancy expert from East Africa, said at the port of Suarez: "The Paraná River has greater shipping potential than all the rivers in the country combined. Its potential is comparable to the Rhine, Danube, Yangtze, and Mississippi. Unfortunately, it is an international river, and the economies and populations of the countries along its route are not wealthy, which greatly limits the development of shipping on the Paraná River."

“With just a little modification and dredging of the waterway, the port of Suarez can accommodate ships of 10,000 tons, and even in its current natural state, it can accommodate ships of several thousand tons.”

"It's true what they say, comparisons are odious. If we had a river like that in East Africa, I'd be laughing in my sleep. What a waste!"

Between Puerto Suárez and Colomba, there is a natural waterway of more than ten kilometers that has not been modified, which can easily accommodate ships under three thousand tons, and this is a tributary of the Paraná River.

The port of Colomba, located less than 15 kilometers from the port of Suarez, can easily accommodate 5,000-ton merchant ships under natural conditions, and even 10,000-ton ships during the rainy season.

It's no wonder that Mocha is so envious of the Paraná River's navigability. The total length of the waterway from the port of Suarez to the sea exceeds 2,200 kilometers, while the Zambezi River in East Africa is only over 2,600 kilometers long.

This means that the Zambezi River would be almost entirely navigable without any artificial modifications or dredging.

Mocha's assistant, Hillad, also remarked with a sigh, "It's truly unimaginable that South American countries, possessing such a natural golden waterway, fail to make good use of it. If the Paraná River were located within the Empire, there would be no need for the painstaking efforts to modify the Zambezi River or dig artificial canals."

"If such a river, with its outstanding shipping and irrigation capabilities, were located in China, the region would certainly become the most economically and agriculturally developed area in East Africa, and it's not impossible that it could even surpass the Rhine River."

The Paraná River has extremely high shipping value and great potential, and its basin also boasts top-notch agricultural conditions worldwide.

The La Plata Plain, through which it flows, covers an area of ​​approximately 1.5 million square kilometers, while the entire plains of the Far Eastern Empire, which cover just over 1 million square kilometers, are only comparable to the Great Plains of North America and the East European Plain.

Of course, this refers to the major plains suitable for agricultural development. Other plains, such as the Amazon Plain and the Turan Plain, although also large in area, have low usable area.

In terms of climate, the Paraná River basin is mainly characterized by a subtropical monsoon climate. Although there are seasonal variations, the name itself suggests that the region has better water and heat conditions than the Far Eastern Empire and the East European Plain.

Then there's soil fertility. The Paraná River basin has abundant black soil resources, and its fertility is quite remarkable.

In summary, the Central Great Plains of North America almost completely outclasses the La Plata Plain in all aspects. The East European Plain has a large area, abundant water, and fertile soil, but its heat and sunlight conditions are inferior to those of the La Plata Plain.

Mocha said to his assistant Hilled, "Forget it, all the South American countries, especially the former Spanish and Portuguese colonies, are basically the same. We can't judge their development by common sense."

"After all, they really are like an empire, which rose up long before the 19th century, leaving no chance for us in East Africa."

"However, Spain and Portugal are indeed relatively weak in developing their economies and industries, which proves the fallacy of Eurocentrism. Even among different regions of Europe, there are huge differences in development."

Hilly agreed, saying, "Without external pressure and support, these South American countries would find it very difficult to achieve an economic miracle like the Empire on their own."

"This may also be an advantage or disadvantage of South America's geographical location. It can be said to be in a corner of the world, more isolated than North America, and only slightly better than Oceania. Therefore, it is difficult to have frequent exchanges with other civilizations, but it is also relatively safe."

"In addition, the natural conditions are favorable and the population pressure is low, so there is no ambition or motivation to compete with other parts of the world. But isn't this also an advantage for the locals?

South America's geographical location is indeed very remote. In comparison, although Africa is at a similar latitude to South America, Africa is close to the Eurasian continent, and the three are actually connected as one.

At the same time, the African continent is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, making it convenient to travel to many places.

After East Africa developed southern Africa, the connections and trade between Africa and the rest of the world became closer. In a sense, East Africa has become the economic center of the Southern Hemisphere, while also deeply involved in the economy of the Northern Hemisphere.

For example, trade between South America and Oceania, and trade between South America and Asia, can all be transshipped through East Africa. In addition, the African continent, where East Africa is located, is itself a continent with relatively outstanding resources, population, economy, industry, and agriculture.

This has in fact made East Africa a new economic interaction center for the rise of the world market.

There are only three such economic centers in the world: Europe is first, Africa is second, and North America is last.

North America and Africa are quite similar; both have elevated their respective regions' status in the global market to a higher level, thanks to the United States and East Africa, respectively.

However, the substantial economic foundation that Europe has accumulated since modern times is unlikely to be surpassed by the United States and East Africa in the short term. Mocha wasn't particularly interested in this aspect; he steered the conversation back to the field of hydrology.

"Governing the entire Paraná River basin is unrealistic for the current empire and the countries in the region, but it is necessary to manage the approximately fifteen-kilometer waterway between the port of Suarez and the port of Colomba."

"By using large inland waterway dredging vessels to extend the river channel to less than three meters, the tonnage of ships in the port of Suarez can be increased to the same level as that in the port of Colomba, allowing ships of up to 5,000 tons to pass through."

"By improving the berthing capacity of the port of Suarez, it can become a key node for Bolivia's future trade with the Atlantic Ocean."

“The population of Santa Cruz Province in Bolivia is small, so dredging the waterways manually is not feasible. Therefore, large mechanical vessels are the only option to do this.”

"Fortunately, the distance between Suarez and Colomba is short, and the geological conditions are not complicated. The riverbed is entirely silty, which makes it very convenient for large dredging vessels to operate. The amount of work to remove the silt from the riverbed is not large, the difficulty is relatively low, and it does not take much time."

Mocha's assistant, Hillad, was not entirely optimistic about his idea. He said somewhat helplessly, "Mr. Mocha, your idea is entirely feasible, but I don't completely agree with it."

"First of all, the issue of river dredging vessels is difficult to resolve locally. There are only a handful of countries in the world capable of building them, and none in South America. Although we in East Africa have the capability to build them, the price of a single river dredging vessel is not cheap, especially a large river dredging vessel. Although we have built some, they are almost all used in the Zambezi River and other rivers in my country for management and maintenance."

"In other words, its current production cannot even meet our domestic needs, let alone transport the limited number of dredging vessels from across the ocean to South America, and only to dredge a mere fifteen kilometers of waterway."

"This is completely overkill, and South American countries probably wouldn't even consider buying river dredging vessels. As an international river, the Paraná River is managed by almost every country with the attitude of 'every man for himself, and nobody cares about what happens to others.'"

"Therefore, before the countries in the basin reach a unified consensus, they simply cannot afford to put in the effort and spend money to manage the various waterways of the Paraná River, and we in East Africa cannot afford to pay for this part of the cost ourselves."

"Therefore, I think it would be more cost-effective for the Bolivian government to pay for the dredging of the river between Puerto Suárez and Puerto Colomba and hire Brazilians and Paraguayans to do the manual dredging."

“The Santa Cruz province is sparsely populated and cannot undertake this kind of project, but the surrounding countries have a relatively large population.”

Brazil and Paraguay don't have large populations, but they have an advantage that Bolivia doesn't: the presence of the Paraná River makes transportation to Puerto Suárez very convenient for the surrounding towns and villages.

This would allow for the expansion of recruitment along the river, and the personnel and materials needed for the construction of Suarez Port could be transported to Suarez Port via the Paraná River.

Although Mocha was not satisfied with the navigation capacity of the port of Suarez, a navigation capacity of thousands of tons was already quite large. In the 21st century of his previous life, the first-class waterways of the Far Eastern Empire were only at about this level.

Besides transportation, Hillad also mentioned labor costs.

"Currently, due to the economic crisis, there are many unemployed people in South American countries, such as Buenos Aires. Their urban labor costs have also dropped significantly, resulting in a surplus. Therefore, they can attract workers with relatively low wages to achieve this."

"Of course, this is on the premise that the Imperial government supports us in doing this, and that the Bolivian government is willing to pay for it. However, although Bolivia is facing economic difficulties, they should still be able to afford such a small project."

The dredging of the channel from Puerto Suarez to Puerto Colomba was indeed a trivial project in the eyes of East Africans like Hiled and Mocha. After all, a mere 15 kilometers was something that agrarian societies in East Africa could easily manage in the last century. East Africa was even able to manually excavate nearly 3,000 kilometers of canals under extremely low productivity levels, something unimaginable for South American countries.

While there were some minor drawbacks, namely the consumption of millions of black laborers, the East African people did not only supervise the black workers but also mobilized millions of citizens to participate in the construction.

This powerful mobilization capability is also the biggest difference between East African and South American countries.

After listening to his assistant's analysis, Mocha suddenly realized that although dredging ships are efficient, the national conditions of South American countries are different from those of East Africa.

He said to Hilled, “You make a good point. Compared to my proposal, your plan is more likely to be adopted by the government. After all, the Empire’s most important project right now is helping Bolivia build railways. If the cost of river channel modification is too high, they probably won’t even consider investing in other projects.”

The construction of the Asunción-Lima railway is already enough to overburden the Bolivian economy, so it is indeed unreasonable to expect the Bolivian government to fund other projects while the railway is under construction.

However, this is not impossible, because East Africa did not take short-term economic interests into account when building the Bolivian railway. Therefore, the construction cost of this railway was not high, almost at cost price.

Of course, although East Africa built this railway at cost price, it does not mean that East Africa will earn less. After the railway is completed, it will help East Africa control Bolivia's mineral, agricultural and industrial sectors, thereby gaining greater long-term benefits.

This also reflects the shift in East Africa's strategy in colonizing South America. East Africa did a completely different thing in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, West Africa, and North Africa.

In its economic colonization activities in South America, East Africa tends to use a combination of soft and hard tactics, aiming for mutual benefit. While East Africa takes the lion's share, it also provides some benefits to the locals. Moreover, this kind of economic colonization will likely become the main form of East Africa's overseas expansion in the future.

After all, it was almost the mid-20th century. With the awakening of various nations and countries around the world, those crude and simple methods of colonial expansion were becoming less and less effective, and might even have a backlash effect.

In Bolivia, this kind of implicit economic colonialism manifests in the fact that East Africa did not exert too much pressure on the Bolivian government; in fact, East Africa even forgave some of Bolivia's debts.

Therefore, the Bolivian government must still have some resources. If Mocha and others can persuade the East African government to reclaim the Suarez port waterway, they may succeed.

Mocha said, "When we get back, we'll write a detailed report and see what they say. Maybe then we can get government approval."

Taking a chance, even if it seems hopeless, is one of the important ways for researchers to obtain funding. After all, what if it gets approved? Mocha is currently holding this view. If it gets approved, it might add to his resume and pave the way for his future work.

(End of this chapter)