African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 533: Chapter 212 Power Plant

Compared to Ernst overseeing the overall situation, Constantine in East Africa focuses more on controlling the details. The father and son, with one’s broad strokes and the other’s fine touches, keep a firm grip on East Africa as their personal asset.

Since his son has recently been focused on overseeing water resources construction, Constantine has been taking on more work, inspecting their family businesses around East Africa.

”Is this power plant construction imitating the Berlin Station power plant construction?”

”Yes, Your Majesty, but calling it imitation isn’t quite accurate. The Berlin power plant is a product from several years ago. Ours employs new technologies, and the size of the First Town station is much smaller than that of the Berlin station, so the construction is not very difficult.”

The power system of the Berlin Station was jointly developed and constructed by Heixinggen Power and Siemens and was the world’s first power plant.

Certainly, the First Town train station can’t compare in scale to Berlin’s train station, as Berlin’s population and economic volume far exceed those of First Town. After all, Berlin is the center of Germany, a metropolis with a population of millions.

”Apart from supplying power to the First Town train station, our power plant will also provide services to the surrounding areas in the future. After all, stations are the nodes of railway transportation, destined to link with the local economic industries.”

Logically, this power plant in East Africa should belong to the nature of a commercial power plant, unlike the politically-oriented power plants previously built in East Africa. However, there is essentially no purely commercial activity in East Africa. Aside from royal enterprises, most are state-owned, so the nature of the assets of the Second Power Plant in First Town differs from European commercial power plants.

”Oh? From what I understand, the current power plant’s electricity generation capacity is quite limited. Apart from telegraphs and electric lights, there don’t seem to be many large-scale application scenarios.”

”Your Majesty, scientific and technological progress is ongoing, and many other electrical products are under research and development. However, electric products are generally very expensive and unaffordable for the general public, so only nobles and merchants consume them for prestige or to improve their quality of life.”

”Then is this power plant, like before, still operating at a loss?”

Constantine’s words left the manager of the Second Power Plant speechless, for it’s like he’s bringing up the most inconvenient topic. But who could argue with His Majesty the King?

”Your Majesty, as times advance, the electricity industry will inevitably reach every household. The Crown Prince also recognizes this potential and vigorously supports the development of the electricity industry. Only, the situation in East Africa is unique, without as many wealthy people as in Europe and America, so promoting electrical development must rely on governmental authority to push forward.”

Reflecting on his son, Constantine thought it over and had nothing to argue. Even though his son spent extravagantly, his vision was indeed commendable. Take the electricity industry for example: any discerning person would know it’s a sector with potential. Yet, the electricity industry currently can only perform in the high-end market; the low-end market requires common people to afford it.

”As you say, your power plant in the future will also provide services to the surrounding areas; will it be enough? And what industries require so much electricity?” Constantine asked.

Because the electricity industry is new and extremely immature, generating electricity is also quite inefficient. Take First Town, for instance; there was already a power plant before, which, besides supplying power to government institutions, could at most illuminate streetlights for two hours at night.

To put it exaggeratedly, aside from telegraphs, electricity could at most power a few bulbs, just keeping up appearances for East Africa’s capital.

Even so, the electricity industry in First Town is considered relatively developed. There are only about a dozen electrified cities in East Africa, with First Town and Soga City having the most complete electrical facilities.

”Your Majesty, it is mainly this: although First Town is the capital, in the future, it can’t develop entirely without industry. According to the arrangement of the Crown Prince, some low-polluting light industries will be developed around the railway in the future. Our power plant doesn’t generate much electricity, but it’s more than enough to provide lighting services for a few factories.”

Ernst is preparing to develop some light industry in First Town. Transportation in First Town mainly includes three modes: the Central Railway, roads, and the Central Canal.

In reality, developing industry in the canal area might be even better, solving water source and transportation issues, but Ernst plans to place these industries in Bajamojo City.

Because the location of First Town, truthfully speaking, was originally a small town on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam that Ernst developed himself in a previous life. It had no inherent advantages, but since Ernst designated it the capital and found no drawbacks, he had no reason to move.

As for Bajamojo City, it has always had some historical significance since ancient times. However, the ruins of the old Arabian city in Bajamojo were dismantled by Ernst over a decade ago, and now it appears entirely as a new city.

Bajamojo originally had no advantage in competition with Dar es Salaam, but since the Central Canal opened and the Rhine River dredging project was completed, Bajamojo’s status has significantly risen.

Bajamojo, originally a seaport, now allows ships to travel directly into the East African interior as far as the highland edge area, thanks to the transformation of the Rhine River and cooperation with the Central Canal.

This water transportation advantage can radiate to the entire Central Province, serving as a beachhead for the economic development of Central Province. Meanwhile, Dar es Salaam is tasked with managing import and export needs, including those of former Zambia and Zimbabwe, via the Central Railway.

To put it simply, Dar es Salaam can be compared to the Tianjin Guard, while Bajamojo is akin to Tangshan. However, First Town cannot gather as many industries as Beiping.

Additionally, Soga City shares some of First Town’s responsibilities for culture, education, and technology, while First Town primarily handles administrative functions, somewhat similar to Melbourne in Australia.

Thus, each city in the Central Province has been arranged clearly by Ernst, with well-defined roles and collaborative development. In the future, apart from Dar es Salaam, Ernst has the highest hopes for Soga City among the cities in the Central Province. However, for Soga City to truly develop, East Africa’s education and technology sectors must advance first.

Hearing about factories piqued Constantine’s interest, so he asked, ”What kind of factories? First Town doesn’t seem to have any resources.”

”It should be processing and manufacturing. I am aware of two food processing plants already planning to locate and construct nearby, along with a paper mill. The food processing plants aren’t large, mainly supplying processed foods to First Town. As for the paper mill, it is understandable: after all, First Town is the capital, so the demand for paper is undoubtedly large.”

Constantine nodded in agreement. The food processing plants made sense since it’s the capital, where consumption capacity is stronger than in many regions. First Town’s demand for paper must be high, mostly because government documents are neither a small number nor is handling archives trivial. Initially, East Africa mainly imported paper from abroad. Although the demand reduced because of some domestic paper mills, much still needs importing.

”Paper manufacturing causes significant water pollution; will Ernst agree to this?”

”Rest assured, Your Majesty, the drainage system connecting First Town and Soga City was completed long ago. The wastewater will be discharged into the sea through a separate drainage pipeline, preventing soil and water source pollution.”

Ernst is particularly concerned about air pollution, which is challenging to control. Water source pollution can be avoided by channeling wastewater into the Indian Ocean. After all, First Town is very close to the Indian Ocean, and First Town’s sewage pipelines are constructed with cement and brick, preventing direct contact between wastewater and soil.