Chapter 1196: Chapter 205: Sahara Railway
Speaking of Du Ping’s company, it is relatively well-known in Mombasa. Its main business is transporting agricultural products from the Great Lakes Region to Mombasa for overseas export.
However, compared to the major grain merchants of East Africa’s state-owned enterprises, Du Ping’s small company ultimately has limited capacity. So far, Du Ping’s grain trading company can only take orders from small or impoverished countries in the Middle East or Europe.
Among them, the countries on the Italian peninsula are the most important business areas for Du Ping’s company. Besides Teka, Du Ping also knows many Italian merchants and has business dealings with them.
Today, the Italian peninsula is considered a relatively explosive region in Europe. Among the three countries on the peninsula, even the economically best-off Kingdom of Italy can only barely achieve self-sufficiency in food, thanks to the support of the Red Sea Colony.
The situation in the Pope Country and Naples is even worse. Naples has become one of the regions in Europe with the most severe population outflow, making significant contributions to immigration efforts in America and various East African countries.
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Even small merchants like Du Ping are aware of the current trade risks between East Africa and Europe, and naturally, the East African government is no exception.
June 29, 1915.
The East African government held a meeting specifically to address this issue once again.
"Just this May, several of our ships were illegally intercepted by British warships, and this was despite us arranging naval escorts in the Atlantic direction."
"Regarding the Suez Canal, the British are also tightening their scrutiny of our merchant ships. Obviously, the British are intentionally obstructing our trade activities with the Allies," said John Lier, the Minister of Commerce of East Africa, worriedly.
In comparison, the situation in the Gibraltar direction is much better. After all, there is Spain in the Gibraltar direction. Although the port of Gibraltar is in British hands, the Gibraltar Strait is ultimately not completely controlled by the British, unlike the Suez Canal.
Merk also stated, "As it stands, our trade in the Mediterranean is quite passive. East African trade routes to Mediterranean countries by sea are limited to two: the Suez Canal and the Gibraltar Strait, both under British surveillance."
"So to expand the security of our trade routes, is there a need to establish a land route through North Africa, learning from Germany’s experience in building the Baghdad railway, to construct a few railways crossing the Sahara Desert and directly exit from the southern coast of the Mediterranean?"
Merk’s bold vision indeed sparked much debate. As the world’s largest desert, building a railway across the Sahara Desert would undoubtedly be an incredible undertaking.
In fact, the idea of building a railway in the Sahara Desert has occurred to some in East Africa, but discussing it in a high-level meeting is the first time.
Sivert shook his head and said, "The difficulty of building a railway in the Sahara Desert is beyond imagination, and the cost would surely be unacceptable."
"There is very little population throughout the Sahara Desert, and the desert terrain will undoubtedly increase the difficulty of choosing the railway’s route. It may take a hundred years to recoup the cost of constructing this railway."
Whether a railway can be profitable is greatly related to the economic conditions along its line, and most of the Sahara Desert is barren and uninhabited, with no economic value whatsoever. After all, there are no people there, let alone economic value.
Ernst did not express an opinion directly but asked Andre, the Minister of Railways, "If we build this railway, is it achievable, or are there any technical difficulties that cannot be resolved?"
Minister Andre shook his head and said, "There should be difficulties, but they are not the deciding factor. After all, we have extensive railway construction experience in Somalia and Southwest Africa, and the terrain conditions in Southwest Africa are much more complex than in the Sahara Desert. It’s not just a desert; the terrain there is more complicated, with many mountains and canyons."
"But we have still built several railways in Southwest Africa, so theoretically, there is no technical problem that cannot be solved in constructing the Sahara railway."
"However, as Duke Sivert said, the cost of building the Sahara railway is too high, and I think it’s not worth the effort."
"After all, the Sahara Desert is not our territory. Our railway construction in Southwest Africa addresses issues of people’s livelihood, national defense, economy, and other aspects. For other countries in the Sahara Desert, we would definitely consider only economic value."
The railways in Southwest Africa are more about national defense and people’s livelihood than economic value. Moreover, Southwest Africa has a lot of mineral resources, so railway construction in Southwest Africa is a must for the East African government.
But the Sahara Desert is different. In fact, Andre’s statement is not entirely accurate: the Sahara Desert does have some relation to East Africa, for instance, the East African city of Jezira also belongs to the Sahara Desert. Therefore, East Africa not only has territory in the Sahara Desert but a considerable amount.
Of course, compared to the main body of the Sahara Desert, East Africa’s holdings in the Sahara are just some edge fragments, not even worth mentioning.
Merk said, "It may not be entirely without value. It mainly depends on the route choice. For example, if we choose Egyptian territory as the route for the Sahara railway, we can connect Egypt with East Africa."
"Imagine starting from Jezira City and reaching Alexandria Port at the very north. This route can directly follow the Nile River, connecting all of Egypt’s core territory. In this way, we can use this railway to strengthen our economic influence over the Egyptian heartland."
"After all, Egypt’s economic scale is quite decent. If we choose the eastern route plan, we are not completely unprofitable and also gain a further step in geopolitical strategy."
Merk’s statement is quite convincing, but Sivert poured cold water on it: "This plan is entirely infeasible. Not to mention the trade between East Africa and Egypt, the land route simply cannot compete with the Red Sea route; the advantage of sea transport is too great."
"Moreover, Egypt is within the British sphere of influence. On this premise, at this stage, we simply cannot complete this railway."
Building this railway would surely interest Egypt, but Egypt is not a sovereign state; it is a semi-colony of the British. Not to mention, Britain’s current control over the Sultanate is far greater than the Egyptian government, as the Sultanate was conquered by the British.
Andre also interjected: "The Red Sea route and Minister Merk’s proposed Sahara railway can be considered parallel routes, and their proximity makes for intense competition. Without the Red Sea, this railway would surely be very useful, but the existence of the Red Sea makes it impossible for us to do something laborious but unrewarding, unless..."
Unless East Africa has designs on Egypt, although Andre didn’t finish the sentence, most had already guessed it.
After all, a railway running through Egypt’s core area, if controlled by East Africa, would essentially declare Egypt completely subservient to East Africa economically.
Of course, East Africa certainly does not have that intention now, mainly to avoid confronting Britain. Regarding Egypt, East Africa has always taken a gradual approach.
However, Sivert does believe they could use this railway as a "lure" for the Egyptian government, thereby indirectly pressuring Britain to make some concessions regarding the Suez Canal.
After all, losing Egypt also means losing the Suez Canal, and if East Africa were to build a railway within Egypt, all aspects of Egypt’s economy would be influenced by East Africa, thus threatening Britain’s control over Egypt.
This is certainly not something the British would want to see, so even if East Africa merely verbally suggests building this railway, Britain would strongly oppose it due to Egypt’s significance to Britain.
Hence Ernst told the ministers, "We can use the Egyptian railway as a pretense to make Britain adjust its stance on the Red Sea route, so start engaging with the Egyptian government to publicize this plan. I believe Britain will definitely make concessions to us."
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