African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 665: Chapter 353 Economic Income

Yasold then said to Val, ”Moreover, your Swakopmund has the Swakop River as a water source, which is far better than our Whale Bay Port.”

Speaking of the Swakop River, Val indeed felt a sense of pride, because the existence of the Swakop River shaped Swakopmund. Although the river’s flow is not very stable, it remains one of the rare good places in the whole of Southwestern Africa.

”And the Mangjing Highway is equally significant for your Swakopmund. After all, the distance between our two cities is less than thirty kilometers. You only need to build a short highway to connect with the Mangjing Highway, a journey, or simply use the existing road between our two cities,” Yasold suggested.

There is a municipal highway between Whale Bay Port and Swakopmund, built along the coastline, and Yasold’s suggestion was for Swakopmund to directly construct a road connecting to the Mangjing Highway. Since the Mangjing Highway runs from northeast to southwest, building a direct road to connect with the eastern side of the Mangjing Highway can bypass the transit through Whale Bay Port.

”The roads definitely need to be built. This is not difficult for us. I’m just frustrated about why they didn’t directly construct the highway to Swakopmund. This way, one could head directly south from Swakopmund and reach Whale Bay Port, saving on a lot of work and materials, avoiding repetitive construction issues, and improving road efficiency.”

Yasold said, ”This shows that the higher government values Whale Bay Port more than Swakopmund, and the only advantage we have over your Swakopmund is this deep-water harbor. Your Swakopmund can’t progress further because of the Swakop River issue.”

The impact of the Swakop River on Swakopmund is twofold. The relatively rich water source indeed has provided momentum for Swakopmund’s development.

However, the Swakop River also passes through arid regions, with sparse vegetation upstream, causing large amounts of river sand to accumulate at the estuary every year.

This was also the main reason why Swakopmund was first colonized in the past and then replaced by the neighboring Whale Bay Port.

Hearing Yasold’s words, Val could only feel resigned. He said, ”So in the future, the two cities may very well merge and develop together. We have water resources, and you have the port advantage. If the two cities can merge, it could form a big city with more than a hundred thousand people in the future Southwest Africa.”

”Haha!” Yasold laughed, ”You really dare to think, a big city with over ten thousand people. Now the whole of Southwestern Africa probably has just over ten thousand people. Combined, our two cities have just over six thousand people.”

”What do you mean ’dare to think,’ I’m speaking the truth. If both cities expand quickly, connecting them is only a matter of time.”

Yasold retorted, ”You also mentioned the cities need to expand first. The problem is that the distance between our two cities is almost thirty kilometers. How large do urban areas need to be to touch each other? Dar es Salaam and First Town are quite close too, and their development speed is fast, yet they haven’t touched.”

”Oh, why can’t you wrap your head around it! City integration doesn’t necessarily mean the urban areas have to physically connect! Can’t you achieve this by building more roads? And how long is thirty kilometers anyway? If we build a railway between our two cities, it’s just a half-hour journey. People could commute back and forth for work. Do you still dare to say that’s far?”

With Val’s reminder, Yasold realized he was stuck in a mindset mistake. With the continuous progress of transportation, the train speed is getting faster. No one can predict how development will unfold in the future.

Thinking of this, he said, ”This means as transportation speeds increase, the sense of distance between cities will diminish. For instance, the distance between Vienna and Dar es Salaam might feel nonexistent due to transportation advancements.”

Val didn’t think so and interrupted, ”You’re being a bit too optimistic. The current speed of steam engines is already remarkable. I also believe there will be faster power sources in the future, but the pace of technological development isn’t as fast as we imagine. At least in our generation, we shouldn’t think about it.”

During the Industrial Revolution, Europeans indeed felt somewhat inflated, but at this time, it’s unlikely. The social confidence and economic situation are proportional to each other. The better the economic situation, the stronger the social confidence. The worse the economic situation, the weaker the social confidence.

Right now, it still belongs to the economic depression phase. Though the crisis has passed, anxiety still exists. That’s why during the 1880s, the great powers were racing to claim territories worldwide.

The main reason is the psychological crisis brought by the last economic crash, so more colonies are needed to share the risk or maintain a sense of security.

”Of course, cities also need to develop. In the future, the main urban areas of both cities will certainly expand. So the current distance between our two cities is about thirty kilometers. Five years later, it might be only twenty-nine kilometers, and ten years later, it will be twenty-eight kilometers. If the city’s development situation is good, the distance could be less than twenty kilometers. Adding in the development of transportation, the distance between our two cities will become even closer.”

Val continued, ”Of course, it mainly depends on your Whale Bay Port city’s development. Now that the higher government has placed its bet on your Whale Bay Port city, in the future, throughout the whole Southwestern Africa, your Whale Bay Port city will definitely be among the top three. It’s also the economic engine of Southwestern Africa for the next ten years.”

Yasold suspected that Val was exaggerating about Whale Bay Port’s potential. He said, ”You’re too optimistic about Whale Bay Port’s development. The higher government never stated that they would focus on developing our city. Moreover, economic development requires actual support. Except for some misguided ships, there’s really no significant point for economic growth here. We even need higher government to allocate grain from inland.”

Yasold’s words are not without reason. Apart from Cape Town, which is immovable, the only ships passing through the Cape Town Strait are those from South America.

After all, most European merchant ships would choose the Suez Canal, which is much safer than the route dubbed ”Storm Cape.” Additionally, the Southwestern African coastal routes are not friendly. North of Swakopmund lies the ”Skeleton Coast,” where many European merchant ships once met their demise.

The East Coast of Africa can rely on its vast inland resources, making the entire Western Indian Ocean route prosperous again. Located on the West Coast, Southwestern Africa has almost a million square kilometers of desert, lacking population and products. Hence, in the absence of thriving shipping lanes, Yasold is not optimistic about the future of Whale Bay Port.

The truth is, for the past few years, Whale Bay Port’s backbone industry has always been fisheries, as is Swakopmund. Meanwhile, the shipping and service industries have basically stalled since being taught a lesson by the storms off Storm Cape. More and more ships are choosing to go through the Suez Canal, unless they are not in a hurry or belong to Cape Town colonies. Even French ships heading for Madagascar now go via the Suez Canal.

So in 1882, the largest customer of the service industry in Whale Bay Port, ironically, was the potential enemy of East Africa—British merchant ships. This was one of the main economic sources for Whale Bay Port, second only to fisheries. However, the fishing resources of Southwestern Africa are more geared towards self-sufficiency, unlike Somali, which is close to the market.