Page 346 - UAE Truncal States

The External Influences
Diqdaqah falls into this period, and the medical and educational
facilities were improved out of lhis budget.
A second and much more ambitious Five Year Plan for 1961 to 1966
was proposed by the Political Agent, D. F. Hawley; however, the sum
of £550,000 which was eventually approved by the British Govern­
ment fell far short of expectations. Some extra grants were made,
such as £100,000 for capital and £40,000 for recurrent expenditure
for improvements on the hospital.
In 1965 the British Government decided to increase aid to the
northern Trucial Slates considerably by the allocation of £1 million
spread over three and a half years and an annual provision of
£200,000 for current development expenditure. This decision came
after Abu Dhabi had already started to export oil and could, even
more than before, go its own way in development matters. The British
contribution was made to the already existing Trucial Slates Council
and was, together with contributions from other countries, admini­
stered by the Trucial Slates Development Office.
This Development Office grew from the modest organisation which
had been set up to run the agricultural trial station in Diqdaqah in
1955 and the headquarters of the office were moved to Dubai in 1965.
The office of the Secretary General of the Fund and the Development
Office supervised the various departments and projects. By 1969 the
Services of the Development Office consisted of:
1. Running the headquarters of the Trucial States Council;
2. Providing agricultural services based on Diqdaqah;
3. Trade and Technical Schools at Sharjah and Dubai;
4. Scholarships abroad for Trucial States subjects, and courses of
instructions for Council Staff;
5. Health services centred on the Maktum Hospital in Dubai, a
touring doctor service operated in collaboration with several rural
clinics, and a small hospital in Ra’s al Khaimah;
6. A department to survey and develop the fisheries resources of the
Stales;
7. A Public Works Department to execute the capital works
programme with over-all responsibility for the development of
water resources, building, plant and road maintenance, and
supervision of public utilities.
The Development Office represented an important step in the
process of making development assistance to these States a per­
manent institutionalised concern with long-term planning. British

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