African Entrepreneurship Record

East Africa’s financial difficulties are essentially due to excessive engineering and projects throughout the nineties. Every aspect demands investment, and under these circumstances, the East African Government must inevitably optimize financial allocations to achieve comprehensive development in all sectors.

Military expenditure has been compressed, but this is relative to other sectors. According to East Africa’s economic development, military spending is actually still growing, just at a slower pace. Compared with other countries, the development of the East African Army has actually made considerable progress.

...

Maputo.

After the administrative division adjustments, Maputo was incorporated into Hansa Province, but the provincial capital of Hansa Province was still chosen to be New Hamburg Port City.

Nonetheless, as one of East Africa’s excellent seaports, Hansa Province holds high hopes for Maputo. In October 1897, the Hansa Provincial Government decided to develop Maputo into one of the province’s international economic windows.

Although New Hamburg Port City has favorable conditions and excellent natural resources, it is not without drawbacks. As a naval base, New Hamburg Port City has higher confidentiality than regular coastal cities. Combined with the small port area, land resources are quite tight when used jointly by the military and civilians.

Maputo City has no such concerns. It benefits from being an excellent port. Its northern part is Pingyuan Province, a new province whose economic conditions are not as good as Hansa Province, given that Hansa Province has New Hamburg Port City, a leading city in East Africa’s economy.

During Portuguese colonial times, Maputo was the economic and political center of all Mozambique. In contrast, Xinxiang City, the provincial capital of Pingyuan Province, was originally just Shao Kui, a town affiliated with Maputo under Portuguese rule. The gap between the two has always been significant. Even though Xinxiang City has now risen to become the provincial capital, being in an inland area with underdeveloped transportation infrastructure, it is tough to compete with Maputo.

”According to higher-ups’ documents, although our Maputo City is not the provincial capital, due to our advantageous geographical position and superior economic foundation in the Mozambique area, Maputo has been allocated a university—Maputo Agricultural College. According to the document’s directives, we will comprehensively utilize Maputo City’s agricultural base to build a regional agricultural powerhouse.”

Maputo is part of Southern Mozambique’s plain, and the Drakensberg Mountains provide abundant rainfall, with many rivers flowing through the region, offering excellent agricultural conditions.

In contrast, although other regions of Hansa Province also have plains, none are as vast as those surrounding Maputo City. Aligning with the trend of agricultural mechanization, Maputo’s advantages are even more pronounced.

”Our city has large plains, numerous rivers, lakes, extensive water areas, mountains and plateaus to the west, and faces the sea to the east. Therefore, the comprehensive conditions for agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishing are markedly advantageous. This is also one of the main reasons the Hansa Province Agricultural College is situated in Maputo.”

”According to provincial government directives, in addition to establishing a provincial-level key university, eighteen industrial projects will be heavily invested in our city in 1898. These cover both agriculture and industry, including Maputo Wool Factory, Timber Processing Plant, Real Estate...”

The inclusion of real estate in the project list appears sudden, but Mayor Hansleden quickly offered an explanation.

”According to provincial government opinion, our city, as an important commercial trade port in the Southern Hemisphere, is vigorously developing the service industry, alleviating the reception pressure from the provincial capital, New Hamburg Port City. We plan to construct a batch of service-oriented real estate around the service industry, such as restaurants, hotels, taverns, ship repair docks, mainly providing services to ships and passengers docking in Hansa Province.”

Indeed, this path follows the example of Dar es Salaam City and Mombasa City. Compared to these two cities, however, Maputo’s location is overly remote.

Before the Suez Canal was opened, Maputo might have served as a necessary stop for many ships, but after the canal’s opening, the northern East African cities had a geographical advantage in commercial trade, paving the way for success. This is the main reason Mombasa can compete with Dar es Salaam City despite weaker overall conditions.

However, the approach taken by Maputo City is not entirely incorrect. After all, coastal trade in East Africa is a substantial cake that these cities alone cannot monopolize. Such is the case with the development of New Hamburg Port City.

Initially, New Hamburg Port City’s development focused more on industry rather than commercial trade, with trade activities mainly unfolding with Portuguese and United Kingdom colonies. However, now that Portugal’s colonies have been incorporated into East Africa, New Hamburg Port City’s external trade has lost a significant channel.

Nevertheless, bolstered by Southern Africa’s most developed industry, New Hamburg Port City can still look down upon the competition. Besides, a large proportion of its trade is domestic.

For instance, mineral resources in the southern region are largely exported by New Hamburg Port City to resource-scarce areas like Dar es Salaam City and Mombasa City, especially coal and iron ore, which are significant exports.

Moreover, industrial products from New Hamburg Port City are distributed inland, including Heixinggen Province, Orange Province, and Baden Province. Leveraging its excellent port conditions, it also exports essential goods to Southwest Africa.

As the southernmost port city in East Africa, New Hamburg Port City and the northern cities Mombasa and Dar es Salaam form a staggered development. The real threat to New Hamburg Port City’s status actually comes from the coastal cities of former Mozambique, including rapidly developing Bela City.

Take the iron ore and coal resources exported by New Hamburg Port City; after the Bela railway opened, Central Bohemia Province (formerly Matebele Province) could also transit through Bela, exporting its coal and iron ore to coastal cities.

Under these circumstances, Hansa Province urgently needs a new city to maintain its economic standing in Southern East Africa. Hence, developing Maputo and New Hamburg Port City as twin cities has become an imperative goal for Hansa Province.

There is a railway connection between New Hamburg Port City and Maputo, making interactions convenient. Therefore, coordinated development can further cement the economic position of Hansa Province.

The actual goal of Hansa Province is to prevent itself from being surpassed by Zambezi River Province, with Bela as its capital. Meanwhile, Pingyuan Province between them has been designated an agricultural province, limiting its development scope as such.

Indeed, competing with Bela City is quite challenging for Hansa Province. Behind Bela City is East Africa’s largest heavy industrial base. Although Matebele Province has been split, Bulawayo was merged into Lorraine Province. However, Bohemia Province cities led by Harare have far superior comprehensive economic strength compared to New Hamburg Port City.

Hansleden said: ”Maputo, during the Portuguese colonial era, did leave a certain industrial and agricultural foundation, but compared to East African cities, it has fallen far behind. So, for our city to become an important city in Southern East Africa, we must reintegrate the city’s resources while exploiting the influence left by the Portuguese, upgrading port resources to provide more convenient and high-quality services for domestic and international ships.”

During Portuguese rule, Maputo’s industrial sector was virtually non-existent, with only a few small factories, such as those for tobacco and basic woodworking. The Portuguese’s most significant assets left behind were actually a number of handcraft workshops. These workshops primarily met Maputo’s needs at the time, sufficing for self-sufficiency but incapable of expansion. Additionally, once Maputo fell into East African hands, a substantial local population returned to Portugal, causing the previously prosperous handcraft industry to diminish.

These are precisely what Hansleden aims to repurpose. Currently, Maputo City does not receive many policy resources. After all, East African cities are numerous and competing, with many monks dividing little porridge; even the resources that can be scrambled for are limited.

Thus, according to Hansleden’s thinking, by reconfiguring Maputo City’s original handcraft sector, although it cannot compare to the efficiency of large-scale factories, it is sufficient to sustain Maputo’s early development. Besides, many aspects of handcrafting are temporarily unable to achieve industrial production, so Hansleden believes there’s a considerable margin for operational maneuvering.