A small country in Sub-Saharan Africa received a significant amount of funds from the World Bank to develop its internet infrastructure. The network below illustrates, in hundreds of kilometres, the distances between the cities (from city A to city N). Please note that, while the arcs between the nodes are straight lines, on the actual ground, these arcs meander, go through tunnels and cross rivers. The Implementing Agent (IA) for this project wishes to determine the least cost way of connecting these cities so that all have state-of-the-art internet provision. Some information provided for the project is as follows:
Materials needed cost R200 per kilometre
Labour cost is R400 per hour
Each kilometre requires three hours to be covered.
The data analyst that is working with the IA has indicated that there must be a table that summarises all the steps that are taken to connect the cities in the least cost way.
Required:
1.1 Develop a table and then provide a short explanation of a full summary of all the steps that are taken to connect the cities in the least cost way in terms of the minimised total distance. (10)
1.2 Use the provided information to calculate the minimum amount (in Rand terms) that is required to provide the internet connection to all the cities in this small country. (15)
1.3 In less than half a page, discuss any other information that you would deem relevant for the successful completion of this project?
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