African Entrepreneurship Record

As the first ”powerhouse” of Africa, the specific embodiment is naturally the state of social development. Although East Africa’s social system seems ”a tangled mess,” the overall social outlook is essentially in sync with the entire era.

Dar es Salaam city.

The city of Dar es Salaam has long been the leading economy of East Africa and it is also the largest integrated city in East Africa. Many data rank it at the forefront, so many new things often appear in Dar es Salaam.

In 1887, East Africa’s first tram officially set sail in the city of Dar es Salaam, attracting the attention of its citizens.

As early as 1881, German engineer Werner von Siemens laid the first tram track in a Berlin suburb, establishing the world’s first tram prototype.

In fact, Siemens began researching trams in 1870, and by the 1879 Berlin World Expo, Siemens had a prototype vehicle. As peers, the Berlin Power Company naturally didn’t want to lag behind, so they began designing a tram in collaboration with Heixinggen Energy Power Company in 1875.

In 1883, they successfully launched their own model, and by 1885, the East African government had drawn up plans to build tram lines in Dar es Salaam and Mombasa.

By 1887, the first tram in East Africa finally operated in Dar es Salaam, while the city converted horse-drawn tram lines into electrified tram lines, becoming the world’s first commercially operated tram system (originally in U.S. 1888).

Of course, prior to this, Austria-Hungary had pilot-operated the first tram line in Sarajevo, but due to technical defects, Sarajevo’s trams still required horses to provide some power, so it wasn’t truly successful in the genuine sense.

As a comparison, Siemens wasn’t so lucky in Germany. Rewind to 1880, when Siemens, ready to make a big move, planned to build an elevated electric metropolitan railway in Berlin. However, this act was met with firm opposition from local residents, who believed that building an elevated railway would depreciate real estate values.

East Africa did not have this issue. The first reason is that the East African government had more authority, which provided a solid foundation for the tram’s promotion and popularization. At the same time, East African roads had long left spaces reserved for tram operations, so the transformation wouldn’t cause too much trouble for East African road traffic. Also, East Africa didn’t have the idea of building elevated tracks.

”In 1807, the world’s first horse-drawn passenger track bus appeared in Britain and spread to many European cities. Trams were developed on this basis using an electric motor as a power source, becoming a new type of urban rail transit vehicle and part of urban public transportation.”

”To ensure London traffic, thousands of horses operated daily, which brought tremendous pressure on the sanitation issue of the city of London. Of course, this was a common issue in many cities. In our city of Dar es Salaam, it was the same. The large amounts of feces and urine were a nightmare for cleaners, so the more environmentally friendly trams would play a huge role in improving the city’s living environment.”

Currently, the mainstream public transportation in cities is still the public horse-drawn carriage. However, it’s undeniable that trams will replace horse-drawn public carriages, becoming the new favorite of urban rail transport. The craziest examples in this aspect were Americans of the prior era, who built more than seventy thousand kilometers of tram lines, longer than many countries’ railways.

East Africa, as a country heavily investing in the electricity field, naturally places great emphasis on new products like trams, which are essential to the electric and transportation industries.

Currently, the tram factory in Dar es Salaam has begun production, and the tram lines throughout the city have been completely transformed, capable of covering the two main urban areas.

”I thought before that these tram tracks were for city railroads, but didn’t expect it to be for this thing. But can these trams really run?” A citizen asked.

Urban railways weren’t uncommon in this era. For example, many train stations in London and New York were built within the city for economic benefit, just like East African stations were generally built in the suburbs.

For the citizens of Dar es Salaam city, who were accustomed to new wonders, trams still exceeded their imagination. According to the official statement, trams rely on overhead cables for power supply.

Therefore, utility poles were erected in the green belts of the central roads in Dar es Salaam to provide power sources for them.

”Cars are unaffordable, but tram ticket prices are extremely cheap, making it completely worth a try. Moreover, many people haven’t taken a train, so it can be used as a substitute for the experience!”

A lot of new railways have been built in East Africa, but very few people have traveled by railroad. To some extent, trams can fill this gap, and their prices are very affordable. According to Dar es Salaam’s wage levels, the cost is entirely bearable.

In an era when buses and taxis hadn’t emerged, trams were the best choice. Even in the 21st century, trams serve as a regular form of urban transportation, situated between buses and light rail.

In Ernst’s view, the development potential of trams is quite huge. Even looking ahead to the future, they will not seem outdated.

The main reasons for the wide-spread replacement of trams in the mid-20th century were twofold. One was the emergence of automobiles, and during the early development of cars when there was no so-called energy crisis, in the mindset of people at the time, trams couldn’t compare to the convenience of cars. The other was during the 1930s and 1940s when world wars turned Europe into a wasteland, and maintaining rail transport became quite troublesome.

Later, under the trend of energy crises, environmental considerations, and the development of urban transport, trams were ”revived” in Europe and the Far East.

Trams should actually belong to a type of ”light rail” and can even be related to high-speed trains, so developing trams is certainly more advantageous than disadvantageous for technical accumulation.

East Africa is a country relatively ”scarce” in energy, mainly due to oil resources, so for East Africa, it is essential to have electricity replace part of the fossil fuels.

Currently, East Africa’s power supply problem sees a multipolar development. Aside from the high threshold for nuclear power, thermal power, wind power, hydropower, and even solar and tidal power are key projects for East Africa to tackle.

This is also Ernst’s guiding direction for the development of the East African power field. Tesla’s alternating current is also undergoing trial operation in East Africa, especially in long-distance power transmission projects, paving the way for East Africa’s electrification development.

Thermal power is supported by southern coal mines and is the current mainstream power generation mode, while hydropower is a key breakthrough project. East Africa’s hydropower resources rank among the top in the world and are the most important breakthrough point for its power supply direction.

Especially in the western Congo basin area, which has high water volumes, high drops, and stable flow throughout the year (second only to the Sahara Desert), its development can potentially solve most of East Africa’s future power supply issues.

In other areas of energy, East Africa is rich in wind power and has great potential for solar power, being the second-most sunlit region, with the vast highlands, besides the tropical deserts, providing great potential.

Finally, there’s nuclear energy. East Africa is rich in uranium mines, but unfortunately, this cutting-edge technology is still beyond East Africa’s current reach.