Page 346 - UAE Truncal States_Neat
P. 346

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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