African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1450: Chapter 19: Eastern Water Diversion to the West_2

Yards said: ”Apart from the Southwest Province, this East-to-West water diversion project mainly aims to resolve the water resource shortage in the provinces of Oran, Heixinggen, and Baden.”

”Once the water resource shortage in these three provinces is resolved, the entire southern economy will advance further, becoming an economic bloc comparable to our country’s three major economic core areas: the East, Central, and West.”

Although the southern region is small, it is the richest area in East Africa in terms of resources, aside from oil and natural gas, it can fully achieve economic self-sufficiency.

Moreover, its climate in East Africa is also more suitable for the development of agriculture and animal husbandry because it is the only temperate zone in East Africa.

Most of the southern provinces of East Africa are located south of the Tropic of Capricorn.

And this is also the most suitable place for developing agriculture and animal husbandry, especially quality agriculture and animal husbandry, otherwise, the Boer people and Zulu people couldn’t have lived by herding here in the past.

Yards said: ”We plan to divert some rivers from the mountains of Lesotho and Swaziland, especially the Lesotho mountains, into the Orange River, thereby supplementing the water volume of the Orange River’s tributary, the Fall River.”

”At the same time, build large reservoirs downstream on the Fall River to intercept river water and establish multiple canals to direct the water to the plains on both sides of the river.”

”This is a long-term plan, which we expect to complete within twenty years. It involves not only creating several large dams upstream but also constructing some tunnels. The downstream infrastructure development is also a massive and complex project.”

Here, the East-to-West water diversion project resembles the Lesotho Highlands Water Project between South Africa and Lesotho from the past, but East Africa’s ambition is evidently greater.

After all, in the past, Lesotho was merely a black reserve territory that even South Africa disregarded, and the inter-country water diversion project was considered international cooperation.

East Africa is different; Lesotho is inherently part of East Africa, so East Africa need not be overly cautious, and the volume of water diversion will exceed that of the past Lesotho Highlands Water Project.

In the past, as an independent country, Lesotho could never be entirely aligned with South Africa and needed to consider sustainable development within its own limits, thus it was more conservative in terms of the scale of water diversion.

Conversely, East Africa has fundamentally given up on Lesotho’s development; for East Africa, Lesotho is merely mountainous terrain. Its population is maintained at most in the tens of thousands, or even less than ten thousand, making industrial, agricultural, and other tasks unnecessary. It only needs to serve as a water source for East Africa.

And this means East Africa can draw more water from Lesotho, since a smaller population leads to significantly reduced local water consumption.

Furthermore, the East-to-West water diversion in East Africa has multiple water sources, not just Lesotho, including Swaziland and other Drakensberg water sources.

In this regard, East Africa’s East-to-West water diversion is more akin to Australia’s past East-to-West water diversion project, as the natural conditions are also quite similar.

The Drakensberg Mountains can be seen as Australia’s Great Dividing Range, while cities like Melbourne and Sydney east of the Great Dividing Range can be regarded as cities like New Hamburg Port and Maputo east of East Africa’s Drakensberg Mountains.

The Great Artesian Basin west of the Great Dividing Range can be likened to the South African Plateau west of the Drakensberg Mountains, and the Darling-Murray River is comparable to the Orange River, with both regions having similar latitudes.

Therefore, East Africa’s southern East-to-West water diversion project is more similar to Australia’s East-to-West water diversion project from the past, even the economic development distribution is similar.

This emphasis on economic distribution is because the economic distribution in South African region from the past contrasts significantly with the development scenario under East African governance in this time and space.

In this time and space, due to East Africa’s influence, the economy east of the Drakensberg Mountains is more developed, with Maputo and New Hamburg Port City ranking prominently among East African cities. Maputo has a registered population exceeding 500,000, with a resident population over 600,000, making it a major city in East Africa.

And New Hamburg Port needs not much mention; it is a historical industrial city of East Africa while also the southern center for openness, culture, education, and others, although its economy has been overtaken by Maputo, it is the strongest in overall capability.

Conversely, cities west of the Drakensberg Mountains, due to past policy restrictions in East Africa, lag behind the eastern side of the Drakensberg Mountains.

In the past, under South African rule, cities like Pretoria, Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, and Kimberley west of the Drakensberg Mountains were economically stronger, even ranking globally.

From this, it’s evident how East Africa’s economic system significantly influences regional development.

However, now East Africa aims to loosen the reins on southern regional development. Initially, East Africa restricted southern development primarily considering geopolitical security and the natural environment.

In terms of geopolitical security, it naturally targeted the South African colony; although the colony was weak, it’s backed by the enormous United Kingdom.

But now, East Africa disregards the South African colony, let alone its sovereign country, the United Kingdom. The geopolitical crisis has been thoroughly eliminated.

As for the natural environment, the southern region’s sole downside is water resource shortage, which the East-to-West water diversion project aims to resolve.