African Entrepreneurship Record

Actually, the reason for not developing southward temporarily is that the southern gulf is an important waterway. Mombasa Island divides Mombasa Bay into two parts. The southern port is wide and deep, and building a bridge would greatly weaken the shipping conditions of Mombasa Port, whereas there are no such concerns for the north and west.

The development path of Mombasa in a previous life was also like this, with bridges built connecting Mombasa Island and the northern and western lands. Prior to this, there was already a railway bridge connecting the western part to Mombasa Island. Now the Eastern Province government plans to further expand the economic ties between Mombasa Island and the mainland.

However, achieving the Great Mombasa plan is not easy for the current Eastern Province. To realize the Great Mombasa plan, at least 1.5 million people are needed, while the current population of Mombasa is less than 700,000.

In the past, the population growth of large cities in East Africa was not fast, the most typical being Dar es Salaam City and Mombasa City. Based on East Africa’s economy and population scale, if they were in a free market country, the populations of these two places would likely have surpassed one million many years ago.

The United States can be used as a reference here. In the mid-19th century, New York’s population had already exceeded one million, while the entire U.S. population was only about 20 million. Currently, East Africa’s population plus Black people is over 90 million, yet there is not a single city with a population exceeding one million. This situation makes the development path of East African cities clearer.

For Mombasa, the city’s development is constrained by its population, which is a big problem. However, opportunities do exist, as one of the goals of East Africa’s first five-year plan is to enhance urbanization levels.

Therefore, Andre said: ”One important factor driving urban population concentration is industry. Only when the industry meets the standards can it provide more job opportunities and attract more people.”

”The population goal for Great Mombasa City should be at least one million to achieve our target. Reaching a population of one million would be a great victory for us, ensuring that even facing Dar es Salaam City’s urban circle, Mombasa City would not lag far behind.”

”An important direction for attracting people is converting the agricultural population into an industrial population. The most important thing is to improve rural productivity while not hindering our province’s agricultural production tasks.”

”So while supporting the Great Mombasa City plan, the provincial government will implement related reforms in the agricultural sector, including further adjustments to the agricultural production structure, increasing the level of agricultural mechanization, and focusing on breakthroughs in fertilizer and pesticide productivity.”

”Adjustments to the agricultural production structure mean centering on Mombasa City, changing the entire province’s agricultural production tasks to connect with food and processing enterprises in Mombasa City and other cities in the province, while increasing the proportion of animal husbandry and economic crops in agriculture.”

”This involves using Mombasa as the core, with other cities cooperating to form an integrated agricultural product processing and export port, leveraging the province’s resources to vigorously develop the agricultural product processing industry. This improves agricultural returns and production efficiency, providing rich agricultural products to the residents of Mombasa City on one hand, while actively enhancing agricultural product exports and increasing their added value on the other.”

”Agricultural mechanization is a term everyone is likely familiar with, meaning strengthening the usage of machinery such as tractors, agricultural vehicles, and pumps in the agricultural sector.”

”In these areas, Mombasa must also further layout related industries, striving for Mombasa’s industry to feed back into the province’s agriculture.”

”Fertilizer and pesticide production is a crucial guarantee for stabilizing the increase in agricultural product yield and quality within a short time. Besides serving the province’s agriculture, it can also be exported or supplied to other regions of East Africa. The above three key points are priority issues for agricultural reform.”

With improved agricultural productivity, the demand for agricultural production personnel naturally decreases, leading to a transition of the population towards cities.

However, if the urban industrial layout is inadequate, the original agricultural population may become unemployed, and the Eastern Province government’s economic development plan might backfire. Therefore, ensuring the expansion of industrial scale is the primary issue Mombasa City needs to address first.

During the first five-year plan, Mombasa received relatively limited policy support, as the current focus of East Africa is on developing the western region. Thus, enriching the city’s industries further in Mombasa City is not easy.

In this situation, more external support must be sought. First, assistance from the provincial government should be sought, and the current provincial government naturally supports Mombasa City’s development since Mombasa City is also the capital of Eastern Province.

However, considering that Mombasa City’s economic volume accounts for about 70% of the province, the local strength is evidently insufficient, thus requiring foreign aid.

Therefore, Mayor Lorraine said: ”Even if Mombasa City integrates the efforts of the entire province for development, it will be rather challenging. In such a situation, we must unite more allies. I have two ideas on this.”

”That is to rely on the two major arteries of the Northern Railway and the Coastal Railway to cooperate with other provinces, especially those along the Northern Railway Economic Belt.”

”The provinces along the Northern Railway Economic Belt have a close relationship with the Eastern Province and a high degree of industrial collaboration. Therefore, integrating resources along this belt enhances our province’s advantages.”

”Mombasa City is the leading part of the Northern Railway Economic Belt, with most import and export operations relying on Mombasa Port, making the provinces along this belt most dependent on us.”

”In such circumstances, we can fully lead the economic construction of the Northern Railway Economic Belt, cooperating with various provinces to achieve collaboration in personnel, logistics, resource minerals, and industries.”

In this aspect, the Northern Railway Economic Belt is rich in population, resources, and markets, which are crucial for Mombasa’s further development.

Although the northern part of East Africa is a relatively sparse population area, the areas along the Northern Railway Economic Belt are not like this. From Mombasa to the Great Lakes Region, this area belongs to East Africa’s eastern economic region, historically the most densely populated, especially the Great Lakes Region, where agricultural activities are prosperous, the agricultural population is large, and the natural growth rate is high, having been an essential population reservoir for East Africa, supplying vast numbers of people to various parts of East Africa in the past.

Therefore, the key for Mombasa City to surpass a million people lies in the Great Lakes Region similarly, the Northern Railway Economic Belt can provide numerous resources to Mombasa City. Although the northern part of East Africa is relatively resource-poor compared to other regions, for supplying the development of a city, it’s entirely sufficient. From Lorraine’s perspective, there’s no other city in the northern part of East Africa than Mombasa City capable of taking on this responsibility.

Take for example the rich nepheline resources in the Kenyan mountains, which are an important raw material source for Mombasa City’s aluminum industry development. Nepheline is a substitute for bauxite and an indispensable raw material for the ceramic and glass industry.

Such minerals are generally distributed in geologically active areas, and Mount Kenya in the East African Rift Valley is an important production area for such minerals.

Similarly, the northern region is currently the most important oil-producing area in East Africa, especially the two major production areas of Turkana Lake and Albert Lake Basin, which can all support Mombasa City’s development through the advantages of the railway.

In terms of other resources, Mombasa City, taking advantage of its geographical location, can also easily import resources, such as coal and iron ore needed for industrial development, mostly imported from the Middle East, India, and East Africa’s own New Hamburg Port City.

Mombasa’s geographical location advantage is also its real core advantage. It is an important port for East Africa and regions in Europe and Asia for interactions. Although Mogadishu Port is closer, Mogadishu’s economic volume cannot compare to that of Mombasa. Even more so, with Mombasa relying on the Northern Railway, its economic hinterland can extend as far as the Azande Plateau and Congo rainforest area.

Therefore, the planning of Mombasa must always rely on its port’s locational advantages, which is a key basis for the Eastern Province and Mombasa City Government when formulating policies.