African Nationhood

After Jan Smuts finished speaking, Ouyang Geng looked at James Lister and said, "The Ministry of Transport will talk about it."

James Lister stood up and nodded to Chairman Shi and Prime Minister Ouyang Geng before beginning his speech.

“In the past five years, our Ministry of Transport, in addition to repairing road damage caused by previous wars, has also started laying third-level highways in major regions.

But as the number of black indentured laborers in the country dwindled, especially after the purge of Zulu rebels, we had a shortage of road-building manpower.

Fortunately, laborers were mobilized from the Rhodesian company next door, so that there were no interruptions in road construction. "

After the Zulus were wiped out, the number of black workers controlled by Nanhua dropped directly to 50.

There are still more than 70 black workers in the Rhodesian Company, and these workers have effectively made up for the labor shortage in South China.

“In 1903, Prime Minister Ouyang and our department set a goal of 5% annual growth in road transportation, which would be 5 percentage points in five years.

According to the railway mileage base of 1.38 kilometers set by Premier Ouyang and I, in the past five years, our department has not only repaired the original railway lines, but also built 5 kilometers of new railway lines, which is overfulfilled.

This includes our previously planned Randfort City (now Johannesburg, South Africa)-Durban (now Durban, South Africa) line and Hanking (now Pretoria, South Africa)-Handu (now Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) line , the two lines were built with a total of 1100 kilometers.

In addition, an iron ore route from Taba Iron Mine (today's Taba Chimbi, South Africa) to Landfortress City (today's Johannesburg, South Africa) was built, which is about 200 kilometers long.

The double ore line from Huota Manganese Mine (now Hotazell, South Africa) to Seshen Iron Mine is about 100 kilometers long.

The regional transportation line from Jianye (now Harare, Zimbabwe) to Tete, the capital of North Zambia region, is about 380 kilometers long.

And the regional line from Tete to Nampula, the capital of the Rhodesian Company (now Nampula, Mozambique), is about 940 kilometers long.

The transportation line from Lusa Town (now Lusaka, Zambia) to Fort William, the capital of Zambezi Company (now Valenco da Gama Town, Mozambique), is about 450 kilometers long.

The transportation line from Wanghai Port (now Richards Bay, South Africa) to Rand Fortress City is about 580 kilometers long.

In addition, a communication line was built between Maseru and Bloemfontein in Basutoland (now Lesotho), with a length of about 150 kilometers.

In order to facilitate the rapid transportation of materials and personnel, we built a railway line from Jolu Town (today's Xese City, Mozambique) to the Mabu Line. This transportation line is about 150 kilometers long.

In the past few years, we have overcome many difficulties, among which we should be most grateful to our colleagues in the Ministry of Urban Construction. Without your help in coordinating materials and planning plans, we would not have been able to build so many railways. "

(Easter egg picture attached, this picture is too big to be posted.)
Cai Jinzhang chuckled, "We are all here to build Nanhua, Minister Liszt, you're welcome."

Minister List nodded and continued: "As for road transportation, we have built about 2 kilometers of new secondary roads in the past few years. The main construction areas are Cape Highway and Natal Highway, and there are also some roads. It is in the East Africa Administrative Office and the Lunda Administrative Office.

As for the construction of third-level highways, most of them are concentrated in coastal East Africa. It is more difficult to transport asphalt to the interior. We are seriously lacking in heavy machinery. "

Ouyang Geng nodded, "Well, the achievements of the Ministry of Transportation are very good. Let's ask Minister Bruce to talk about it."

Sansa Bruce nodded and began to speak.

“Let me first talk about the company’s income from property seized in previous operations against the Congo Free State.

First, let’s talk about the seized property. In addition to livestock such as cattle, sheep, and horses, there are also grain, rubber, ivory, gold, coal, etc.

Our financial department has made an estimate and the approximate value is 985 million pounds.

In addition, the property received from the annihilation of the Zulu Kingdom included a large amount of gold, ivory, and some grain and livestock.

Our estimated value is approximately 1538.32 million pounds, and these incomes are one-time income. "

The meaning of Sansa Bruce's words is very obvious. After the Zulus are wiped out, the native tax can no longer be collected. “In addition to these, there are also commercial tax revenues from various domestic enterprises.

The total fiscal revenue of the finance department last year was 266.18 billion yuan, including 85.1 billion yuan in domestic corporate taxes, 177 billion yuan in dividends from overseas companies, and 4.08 million yuan in indigenous taxes.

The income of overseas companies mainly comes from oil fields and tropical cash crops in overseas plantations, especially rubber, which has given us a large economic income. In addition, the income of the overseas Herstal Arsenal has been growing steadily.

After talking about profits and taxes, let’s talk about the issuance of national bonds and lottery tickets by our department under the instruction of Chairman Shi.

As of June, our treasury bond sales reached 6 billion yuan. These treasury bonds are enough for us to build some large-scale infrastructure projects and industrial construction.

Our department calculates that issuing national bonds every year to offset direct fiscal investment will not only increase residents’ consumption frequency, but also bring benefits to the people.

The potential of lottery to drive investment and consumption is very huge. According to our monitoring, monthly lottery sales have basically remained at 4 million yuan, and the economic stimulus effect is about 3% to 5%. "

Because there are physical rewards for lottery sales, the consumption index of the citizens has also increased.

For example, if a car wins the first prize, the car owner is bound to make purchases around the car, such as gasoline, car mats, seat cushions, perfume and other peripheral products.

"Well, in this regard, your financial department should think of ways to stimulate people's consumption or loan consumption. For example, large machinery can be paid in installments.

You can also use loans with collateral for consumption. In short, you should find more ways to stimulate residents' consumption. "

Sansa Bruce nodded, "Okay, Chairman."

"Next, let me talk about Minister Xia Yi."

Xia Yi stood up and nodded to Chairman Shi and Prime Minister Ouyang Geng, then opened the folder she carried with her.

“Our department has successfully achieved a smallpox vaccine coverage rate of 99% among local people, and the smallpox vaccine coverage rate in overseas territories has reached 48%.

Among them, the Sakhalin Administrative Office and the Newfoundland Administrative Office have the lowest coverage rates. First, they are far away, and second, there are more people there. "

There are nearly 40 people in the Sakhalin Administrative Office, and more than 12 people in the Newfoundland Administrative Office.

It is not convenient to travel to both sides from Nanhua. In addition, you need to consider seasonal factors when traveling to both sides.

“We have also made great improvements in vaccination against diphtheria and typhus.

Among them, the diphtheria vaccination rate among local people reached 55.5%, while that in overseas territories was only 21%.

The vaccination rate for typhus reached 59.1% and 18% in overseas territories.

The production capacity of these two vaccines is still limited, so the vaccine coverage in overseas territories has also declined.

Due to the legislation of the Central Parliament, the domestic birth rate has increased to 3.7%.

As for the neonatal mortality rate, it has been reduced to 15‰, and the death rate of pregnant women due to dystocia has been reduced to 8‰, which has just met the cabinet requirements.

There is basically no room for these two indicators to go down. I ask Premier Ouyang not to set any more rigid indicators for us. "

Ouyang Geng and Chairman Shi looked at each other and found that the latter made no additional remarks.

He smiled and nodded, "You have accomplished your goals with such hard work. I will not make any additional requirements. I just ask you to maintain these two indicators."

Xia Yi was very happy when she heard this, "Thank you, Chairman and Prime Minister." (End of Chapter)