Page 509 - Truncal States to UAE_Neat

Notes to Chapter Nine

139 See Article 102. The constitution envisages here and in other places
some kind of extraterritorial status for the permanent capital, which
was expected to be located on land to be donated by two Emirates on
their common border, but which would then cease to belong to either of
these Emirates. However, no progress has been made in the creation of
this capital during the ten years of the Federation’s existence.
140 Annual budgets (in million Dh.) 1972, 200.9; 1973, 419.8; 1974, 800.5;
1975, 1,774.8; 1976, 3,113.6; 1977, 13,166.7; 1978, 10,506.0; 1979, 9,715.7
Source: Currency Board Bulletin, vol 5, no. 2, June 1979, table B.2, p. 150.
The budget for 1980 was Dh.16,000.0 million.
141 In 1978 the gap between budgeted requirements (Dh.10,506.0) and
actual required revenues (Dh.6,973.9 million) was not quite so large;
actual expenditure for 1978 was Dh.7,007.6 million).
142 Detailed figures of the various forms of foreign aid are not published;
some information may be extrapolated from the budgets of the
federation and of Abu Dhabi (ibid, tables B.2 and B.3) under items such
as "other ministries", "current expenditures" and "capital payments".
143 See Footnote 152.
144 It has always been difficult to distinguish between the public and
private sectors of the economy in Dubai. In some years it has been
impossible to obtain relevant data for Sharjah and the other northern
emirates. The Currency Board Bulletin carried the first consolidated
account of UAE revenues and expenditures (for 1977 and 1978) in its
June issue of 1979 (table B.l, p. 149). This account comprises the federal
governments as well as the governments of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah
and Ra’s al Khaimah.
145 Exact figures of the number of low-cost houses available for occupation
in 1980 are unobtainable. Several thousand have recently been built or
are under construction, including in Bani Yas, a new township on the
mainland some 40 kilometres south-east of Abu Dhabi town. Whole
quarters near the centre of town, built in the late 1960s, are now being
demolished; the owners are given very generous compensation and land
on which to build new homes.
146 See the Annual Statistical Abstract, 1978 by the Central Statistical
Department of the UAE Ministry of Planning, pp. 117ff.
147 In the early 1960s Kuwait took overall responsibility for education in all
the Trucial States except Abu Dhabi, introducing the Kuwaiti cur­
riculum and inspecting the schools annually. Financial assistance and
teachers were also provided by Bahrain, Qatar and Egypt. See K.G.
Fenelon, The United Arab Emirates, An Economic and Social Survey,
London 1973, (1st edn), pp. 93ff.
148 A large number of pupils were also registered in private schools in
Dubai, the largest being the Iranian school with over 900 children.
149 There are at present more than 40 private schools in the UAE, most of
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