African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1200: Chapter 209: East Africa World Expo

July 13, 1915.

Dar es Salaam City.

Today’s Dar es Salaam City is clearly different from usual, as various city government departments have begun organizing personnel to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the entire city, including issues related to sanitation, transportation, public security, and more.

East African traffic police are on duty, starting to comprehensively manage traffic violations such as illegal parking, unlicensed vehicles, drunk driving, speeding, and running red lights.

The police department is conducting orderly patrols of various neighborhoods, cracking down on all kinds of illegal activities and crimes.

The commerce department is targeting the hygiene and business operations of shops on either side of the streets for inspection.

Firefighters and urban management departments are also beginning to address various safety hazards within the city and regulate street stalls.

Lighthouse Road.

”Officer Chris, is there something big happening today? I see quite a few civil servants on the streets, going from house to house doing various tasks. What’s the city’s major action?”

Chris is a police officer at the Lighthouse Road precinct, and the person stopping him and asking is none other than his neighbor Adson.

In the eyes of East Africans, police are not seen as a fearful image, but rather as servants of the people, which is the direct reason why Adson dared to directly interact with Chris. Of course, being a familiar face also has some influence.

After all, East African police are only responsible for public security and convenience services, while other tasks likely to cause controversy and disputes are handled by departments like commerce and urban management.

Especially the urban management department, which in the eyes of many small vendors is seen as ”devils,” with a bad attitude. If it were urban management, Adson might have fled.

Chris said, ”Oh, it’s you, Adson. Actually, there’s nothing major happening. Aren’t you working in the mold factory? This round of activities shouldn’t affect you much. This time, the city government is mainly conducting a large-scale political activity aimed at the city’s image.”

Adson inquired, ”The city government hasn’t mobilized so extensively before, right? And this time, so many departments are acting together. Even when the new economic policy was implemented in 1910, it wasn’t as intimidating as now.”

Faced with the East Africa government, the grassroots people are a bit apprehensive, since the citizens do not fight with officials, and the East Africa government is a typical authoritarian government. So with so many civil servants involved across so many departments, Adson is also somewhat worried.

Chris didn’t hide it and told Adson: ”It’s not anything major; it seems the city government received a notice from the provincial government to organize an international event in our Dar es Salaam City.”

”It should be a world exposition similar to the San Francisco Expo, where at that time many foreigners will likely flood in. So in order to showcase our city’s appearance, we are preparing in advance by addressing safety hazards, sanitation, public security, and other issues.”

In 1915, when Europe was heatedly engaged in war, the United States, just like in a previous life, held the Panama World Exposition in San Francisco to commemorate the opening of the Panama Canal.

This exposition was quite famous in the previous Far East Empire, as many traditional brands in industries like tobacco, alcohol, and tea used medals won at the Panama Canal as advertising material later on.

Many Far East Empire liquor companies hyped their awards from the Panama Expo, but in reality, it was completely different from their marketing content, turning into a temporary laughingstock.

However, this indeed shows the success of the Panama Expo, and its influence from the past continues into the 21st century.

Adson exclaimed excitedly, ”So does that mean our Dar es Salaam City will also host a world expo this time?”

Chris nodded and confirmed, ”That’s correct. You can see how much emphasis the city government and provincial government are placing on this event; otherwise, I wouldn’t suddenly be working overtime today.”

Chris can fully understand Adson’s excitement because this will be East Africa’s first time hosting a major international event within the country.

The main reason for this outcome lies in the past East African strategy of ”hiding one’s talents” under Ernst’s influence, with East Africa not wanting to stand out excessively in the international community. But now, hosting an international event is due to changing circumstances.

On the one hand, East Africa has developed into a giant entity that can’t be hidden, with its significant presence coupled with frequent ”strong actions” in the international community in the past two years; the conditions for ”hiding one’s talents” have disappeared.

On the other hand, as European countries are now embroiled in war, it’s a good opportunity for East Africa to take advantage by hosting a world expo, showcasing its economic strength and encouraging regions and countries like South America, Nanyang, and the Far East Empire to recognize East Africa’s abilities and gravitate towards it.

The United States Panama Expo presumably has similar intentions. Now, with Europe in a chaotic situation and the old century system obviously cracking, preparation must be done in advance.

If the Allies led by England and France were to lose the war, it would essentially mean the complete collapse of the old world order. Conversely, if the Allies lose, England and France might patch up the old order post-war.

The East Africa government has just concluded a round of discussions, formally proposing the concept of a ”Southern Hemisphere Economic System,” and how to connect Southern Hemisphere countries will require an excuse.

Obviously, hosting a world expo is an excellent approach, showcasing East Africa’s most economically developed city, Dar es Salaam City, to these countries, making them realize that East Africa is not only significantly strong militarily but also matches old imperialist powers economically and industrially.

For Dar es Salaam City citizens like Adson, they naturally feel thrilled since the world expo will be held in Dar es Salaam City.

This will greatly inspire national pride and patriotism among East Africans, as East Africa has been on the rise for years, and citizens’ attitude naturally inflates along with it.

However, East Africa’s economic development image has not been very active internationally, leaving all East African citizens holding a breath in their hearts, and the world expo is a great opportunity for expression.

Adson asked, ”When will this expo be held?”

Chris said, ”If nothing unexpected happens, it should be in October this year. At that time, the government will invite personnel and enterprises from various countries to Dar es Salaam City to participate. Besides our city, First Town City and Bajamojo City will also join in, with the three cities co-hosting this world expo.”

First Town City is currently the capital of Marine Province and where the provincial government is located, while Bajamojo is relatively strong in industries like shipbuilding. Along with Dar es Salaam City, they form the economic core triangle of Marine Province.

Chris continued, ”You will have a feast for your eyes by then, as lots of cutting-edge technology and new wonders from abroad will appear. If it reaches the level of the Panama Expo, the next half year in Dar es Salaam City will probably be even more bustling.”

Dar es Salaam City is already quite lively due to trade with Europe, and hosting a world expo will clearly raise the city’s popularity even further.

”By then, the population of Dar es Salaam City may exceed two million, so the city government’s pressure is enormous.”

The population of Dar es Salaam City has already exceeded 1.3 million, which only includes East Africa’s national citizens. Including personnel from other countries, it surpasses 1.5 million. Hence, the city government predicts that during the expo, Dar es Salaam City’s population could break two million.

This will exert significant pressure on the city’s accommodation, dining, service facilities, and more, so after this round of rectification, Dar es Salaam City will temporarily build a batch of new public service facilities to cope with the influx of large numbers of travelers during the expo.

For this event, the East Africa Central Government and Marine Province Government will closely oversee it. If it’s messed up, Dar es Salaam City officials will not fare well, which is why all the departments of the Dar es Salaam City government are collectively mobilized now.