African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 444: Chapter 122 Residence

Kurand and his group first need to report to the city hall. After registering at the city hall, Kurand and a few agricultural experts each acquired a property in Soga City.

Although receiving a property for free, Kurand was a bit uneasy and asked, ”Do these houses really not cost anything? What’s the quality like?”

”Rest assured on that point. Housing distribution is a very standard practice in East Africa. As high-quality talents introduced by the East African government, you will enjoy better treatment than ordinary immigrants or even officials.”

Hearing is one thing, seeing is another. Blanco soon led them to visit their new home.

”Each residence is 140 square meters, with three bedrooms, a living room, two bathrooms, and a kitchen, along with a small garden. Soga City is also a garden city, as you can see. Besides the gardens of each household, there are these so-called green belts along the roads, which are unique products of our East African cities.”

However, Kurand’s focus was clearly not here. He asked Blanco, ”I always feel you are a bit too extravagant in your use of land. The pedestrian path in front of the houses is fine, but the road we came on seemed a bit wasteful. I used to live in Landshut and visited Munich, Berlin, Vienna, and Paris, and to be honest, the roads in Soga are ridiculously wide. It’s understandable in a populous city like Dar es Salaam, but there aren’t many people in Soga, the utilization is too low.”

Blanco seemed unconcerned, saying, ”Wider roads aren’t really that big of a problem, and as for low utilization, there will be more people coming to Soga in the future, so no need to worry. After all, the city is developing, and the roads in European countries are also much wider than before, although not by much.”

Despite this, Professor Kurand still said, ”You are a bit too urbanized.”

In conversation, Kurand also noticed that the street lamps in Soga seemed to be electric, which surprised him a bit.

”I am increasingly doubtful if the Kingdom of East Africa is an African country at all. You’ve even popularized electric lamps in the city, something probably only the capitals in various countries have achieved.”

”Electricity is also a rarity in East Africa, only the capitals and Soga have widespread use. In Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, only a small part is used, and as for other cities, only Nairobi and Mbeya, two industrial cities inland, use electricity. In other areas, perhaps only a few government agencies use it.”

Blanco opened the door and brought Brand’s luggage inside.

It could be seen that the quality of these houses was quite good with no hint of cutting corners. Previously, only the exterior was viewed, but the interior was equally well-furnished.

”The furniture is entirely made of solid wood, but considering your preferences, we have only prepared a few basic pieces: a desk, two chairs, and a bed. If there is a need, everyone can go to a furniture store and choose what they like.”

”Each room has an electric lamp, which is on a pull-cord switch. But I must remind you, using electricity is very dangerous. Don’t casually modify circuits or touch wires and circuits with wet items, including metals and hands. If any issue arises, go to the electricity bureau to have professionals repair or modify it.”

This kind of educational information is very necessary, as the Second Industrial Revolution is just starting, and electricity, as a new element of the Second Industrial Revolution, remains relatively unfamiliar to many people of this era.

”Actually, the living room has a mezzanine which can be used to place a desk and bookshelf, directly facing the balcony, providing excellent lighting.”

”This is the bathroom, equipped with a faucet, washstand, flush toilet, and bathtub, supplying water 24/7.”

”As for the kitchen, we didn’t over-decorate it. Similar to the furniture, you can renovate it according to your ideas. However, Soga City also has a public canteen that can solve dining issues. The bad news is that it requires payment, but the good news is that the prices are very cheap, and the chefs are quite skilled. Currently, the public canteen is set up for 700 people because there aren’t many people in Soga, so only one is operational in the northwest corner of this neighborhood.”

”There are three bedrooms in total, so you can have your family from Europe come over. Otherwise, it really feels a bit empty to live in such a big house alone.”

Brand was quite satisfied with the living environment here, but he quickly thought of an issue, which was communication with Europe.

”Does Soga City have a telegraph office?”

Blanco: ”Of course, Professor Brand, the telegraph office, shops, the canteen, and others are all in the northwest of the community. The telegraph can directly connect with Europe from here.”

”That’s great; I think I can call my family and friends over after some time,” said Brand.

It was also great for East Africa, as the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. Brand, being a biologist, certainly did not have an obscure circle.

However, Brand also mentioned that he’d wait for a while since he was still in the inspection stage concerning East Africa. The most important thing was that the work environment hadn’t been thoroughly evaluated yet.

Very soon, Blanco dispelled his doubts.

”Here is the East African Rice Research Institute. The location is a bit out of the way because the experimental site is different from general scientific research, so it was chosen in the suburbs. However, it’s not far from your residence, less than two kilometers, and the government will later distribute East African traffic rules notification sheets and means of transportation to relevant personnel.”

What transportation means are available? The answer is bicycles. Bicycles aren’t really exotic, but the Heixinggen Daily Necessities Company hasn’t mass-produced them and has taken the luxury route. The main reason is that East African rubber has yet to be mass-produced, while European bicycles use rubber imported from Brazil, whose output is not very high. As for Southeast Asia, there isn’t even a trace of rubber now, historically only being introduced by Britain after 1876.

Currently, the only country ready to use large-scale plantations for commercial rubber production is East Africa.

Furthermore, the bicycles produced by the Heixinggen Daily Necessities Company are quite peculiar. Their tires are solid, serving merely a shock-absorption function, so they’re fine on flat surfaces but perform poorly off-road, making bicycles a novelty enjoyed by the wealthy and nobility due to their poor practicality.

Of course, hollow inflatable rubber tires are available too. The Heixinggen consortium applied for the technology patent, but Ernst didn’t want to promote it on a large scale now mainly because he didn’t want Brazil to benefit financially, as Brazilian rubber currently monopolizes the market, and the pricing power of raw materials isn’t in the Heixinggen consortium’s hands.

However, this situation will change this year, as rubber from the Great Lakes Region is ready for production. Besides the Great Lakes Region, East Africa also has a few smaller simultaneous rubber planting areas, mainly located in the rain-rich zones at the intersection of Turkana Province and the coastal plains and highlands.

As for the larger tropical rainforest production area, that is, the west side of the Mitumba Mountains, due to the late planting time, a few more years of waiting are needed. However, the production from the Great Lakes Region and a few smaller production areas is sufficient to meet the global current rubber market demand.

Heixinggen hasn’t opened up bicycle technology production in Europe but has opted to innovate constantly in appearance and decoration, as bicycles have become aristocratic playthings, appearing as luxurious as possible.

When East African rubber matures, the company also plans to invest in East Africa to construct a batch of factories centered around the rubber industry, with bicycle tires being one of them.

Blanco continued, ”Indeed, the distance isn’t far, and walking doesn’t take too long, plus there are public horse carriages available.”

”Aside from these, there is a library in the city center where some non-specialized materials can be viewed. Due to just being completed, the library’s collection isn’t very extensive, but new books are continually being added.”