Chapter 652 Economic Income
Yasold then said to Val: "And your Swakopmund also has the Swakop River as a water source, which is much better than our Walvis Bay Port."
Speaking of the Swakop River, Val is indeed a little proud, because the existence of the Swakop River has created Swakopmund. Although the river flow is not very stable, it is still one of the few good places in Southwest Africa.
"And the Whale Highway is also of great significance to you Swakopmund. After all, the distance between our two cities is less than 30 kilometers. You only need to build a short-distance road to connect with the Whale Highway, which is a distance, or directly use the highway between our two cities." Yasold suggested.
There is a municipal road between Walvis Bay and Swakopmund, which is built along the coastline, and Yasold’s suggestion is for Swakopmund to build a road directly connected to the Walvis Bay Highway, because the Walvis Bay Highway It runs from northeast to southwest, so the construction of a straight road in Swakopmund connecting to the Whale Highway on the east side can directly eliminate the need to transfer from Walvis Bay Port.
"The road must be built. This is not difficult for us. I just don't like why the road is not built directly to Swakopmund. In this way, we can reach Walvis Bay directly from Swakopmund. It saves a lot of engineering and materials, avoids repeated construction problems, and improves the efficiency of road use."
Yasold said: "This shows that the higher-level government attaches more importance to Walvis Bay Port than Swakopmund, and the only advantage our Walvis Bay Port has over Swakopmund is probably this deep-water port. , but you Swakopmund cannot go further because of the problem of the Swakop River."
The influence of the Swakop River on Swakopmund is two-way. The relatively abundant water source has indeed provided impetus for the development of Swakopmund.
However, the Swakop River is also a river that passes through an arid area. There is sparse vegetation in the upper reaches, resulting in a large amount of river sand being deposited at the outlet every year.
This is also the main reason why Swakopmund was first colonized in the previous life and was later replaced by Walvis Bay next door.
After hearing Yasold's words, Val felt helpless. He said: "So it is very likely that the two cities will merge and develop together in the future. Our city has water resources and you have the port advantage. If the two cities can merge, then A large city with more than 100,000 people will be formed in Southwest Africa in the future."
"Haha!" Yasold laughed and said, "How dare you think that there were still a large city with more than 100,000 people. Now the entire Southwest Africa probably only has about 10,000 people. The combined population of our two cities is only over 6,000. "
"What do you mean by really daring to think? I'm telling the truth. If two cities expand quickly, it will be a matter of time before they are connected."
Yasold retorted: "You also said that the two cities will expand. The problem is that the distance between our two cities is almost thirty kilometers. So how big do the urban areas need to be to meet each other? Dar es Salaam The city and the first town are also very close. The two cities are developing very fast! They haven’t even met each other."
"Oh, why can't you get your head around this! Urban integration requires urban areas to be together to be called integration! Wouldn't you achieve this by building more roads? And it's only 30 kilometers long. If the two cities between us If a railway is built in the same period, it will only be half an hour away, and you can go back and forth to and from get off work. Do you dare to say that this distance is far?"
With Val's reminder, Yasolde realized that he had entered into a misunderstanding. Transportation is developing day by day. Now the speed of trains on the railway is getting faster and faster. No one can say how it will develop in the future.
Thinking of this, he said: "Wouldn't that mean that as the traffic speed becomes faster and faster in the future, the sense of margins between cities will become weaker. For example, the distance between Vienna and Dar es Salaam will also be reduced due to traffic. Development without margins.”
Val didn't see it that way, and interrupted: "You are a bit too optimistic. The speed of the steam engine is already amazing now. I also believe that there will be power faster than steam power in the future, but the speed of technological development is not as fast as we imagined. , at least our generation shouldn’t even think about it.”
Europeans did have some inflation during the Industrial Revolution, but it is unlikely at this time. Social confidence is directly proportional to economic development. The better the economic situation, the stronger the social confidence. The worse the economic situation, the worse the social confidence.
It is still in the stage of economic depression. Although the crisis has passed, anxiety still exists in our hearts. This is also the reason why the great powers in the 1980s raced to enclose territories around the world.
The main reason is the psychological crisis that the last economic crisis brought to many countries, so more colonies are needed to share risks, or to maintain a sense of security.
"Of course, cities also need to develop. The main urban areas of the two cities will definitely expand in the future. This means that the distance between our two cities is about 30 kilometers now. In five years, it may only be 29 kilometers. In ten years Then there will be 28 kilometers. If the city develops well, then there may be less than 20 kilometers left. With the development of transportation, the distance between the two cities will be even closer."
Val continued: "Of course, this mainly depends on the development of your Walvis Bay City. Now that the higher-level government has placed a bet on your Walvis Bay City, in the future, your Walvis Bay City will be among the top three in Southwest Africa. position and, for the past decade, South West Africa’s economic engine.”
Yasold suspected that Val was trying to kill Walvis Bay City. He said: "You are too optimistic about the development of Walvis Bay City. The higher-level government did not say that we should focus on developing our city, and economic development requires physical support. We Apart from some ships that have gone astray, there are really no economic growth points worthy of attention here, and it even requires higher-level governments to allocate food from the interior."
There is no problem with Atsold's words. Except for Cape Town, Nodu cannot be moved away. The only ships currently passing through the Cape Strait are South American ships.
After all, most European merchant ships will choose the Suez Canal. Its safety alone is better than the Cape of Good Hope, known as the "Cape of Storms", and the coastal waterways of Southwest Africa are not good either. To the north of Swakopmund is the "Skeleton Coast". Many European merchant ships sank there in the past.
The east coast of East Africa can rely on the huge inland resources to make the entire western Indian Ocean route prosperous again. However, the desert area of Southwest Africa on the west coast is close to one million square kilometers, and there is no population or product. Therefore, when shipping is difficult to rise, Yasold is not optimistic about the future of Walvis Bay.
This is also true. The pillar industry of Walvis Bay Port in recent years has been fishing, and the same is true for Swakopmund. The shipping industry and service industry have basically stagnated, because after being educated by the storm at the Cape of Good Hope, more and more people Ships choose to pass through the Suez Canal, unless they are not in a hurry or are ships from the Cape Colony. Now even French ships heading to Madagascar pass through the Suez Canal.
Therefore, in 1882, the largest customer of Walvis Bay's service industry was the potential enemy of East Africa - British merchant ships. This was one of the main economic sources of Walvis Bay, second only to fishery, but the fishery industry in Southwest Africa The resources are mostly self-produced and sold, unlike Somalia, which is not close to the market.