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by evaporation would dry the whole area enclosed by the embankment in a few
months. The average depth of digging required to excavate the drain would
be about 13 feet, and the cost of the channel wmuld probably amount to
Ks 16,00,000. The excavation of the drain vrould entail some difficulty, the
best method would be to excavate from the tail upwards by a suction dredger.
The enclosing bund would be about 9 feet high, top width 10 feet with side
slopes of 2 to 1 on the w^ater side and 3 to 1 on the downstream side. Allowing
Es. 20 per cubic foot the embankment would cost Its. 26,400 per mile The
total length necessary would amount to 30 miles and the total cost of the
embankment would be about Es. 8,00,000. A further sum of Es 3,00,000
might be allowed for the supply regulators, the tidal sluice in the drain and
the Basrah Zubair railway bridge bringing the cost of works to Es. 27,00,000,
and the total cost including establishment and contingent charges to
Es. 36,00,000. Increasing this figure by 50 per cent, to allow for interest and
unforeseen expenditure, the estimate for reclaiming 100,000 acres amounts
to Es. 54,00,000, which is at the rate of Es 54 per acre. A net annual revenue
of Es. 6 per acre would give a return of 11T per cent, on the capital outlay.
river supplies for the irrigation and the construction of flood control w T ortvs
for the reclamation of the higher tracts would affect the lower tracts and entail
modifications of the schemes undertaken in them. Tne political situation
may, however, compel a departure from the above principle and the necessity
for proceeding with reclamation and irrigation schemes in the tract dealt
with in this report may arise at an early date.
The estimates of the cost and financial results of the schemes outlined in
this report are necessarily very rough, detailed surveys and. closer study of the
factors involved are necessary before definite and detailed schemes for the
development of the tracts under discussion can be prepared. It woula bea
great help in the conduct of future surveying operations if copies of Sir W.
Willcocks’ original plans and levels could be obtained, which must of necessity
contain far more information than is supplied by his published reduced scale
mapS ' P. A. STODDAKD, B.Sc., A.M.I.C.E.,
2nd Lieutenant) Indian Army Reserve of Officers.
The reclamation, of 100,000 acres out of a total swamp area of about
7,000,000 acres (as given by Sir W. Willcocks) would exert no appreciable
influence on the flood absorptive capacity of the tract, nor on the supply of
fresh water to the Shatt-el-Arab. As an increasing area of land was brought
under reclamation, the intensity of floods in the Shatt-el-Arab wnuld increase
but the change of conditions would be gradual and the river would increase its
discharging capacity by scour, chiefly of the bed. This project, wdnch would
provide perennial flow irrigation to the area within its scope, appears far more
promising than any scheme for the irrigation of the Basrah desert tract, an
would not interfere in any way with the subsequent development of that tiact
whenever it is considered advisable or necessary to undertake it.
15. If the whole of the Tigris-Euphrates delta lay under the control of a
single administration the soundest pnnci-
Coneluding reirarkB. ple " 0 f development to follow would be to
commence reclamation and irrigation in the higher tracts and extend towards
the lower tracts. If earned out in the reverse order the withdrawal ot low
Dated 12th August 1915.
Working copy to G. S. (M. O. 1).
Copy to G. S. (M. O. 3).
Telegram P., No. 3063, dated 21st September 1915.
(Eeceived in War Section, 22nd September 1915.)
APPENDIX 336
(Dy. No. 22135)
From—The Secretary of State for India,
To—The Viceroy (Army Department).
The Port Officer, Basrah, has, we understand, been instructed to carry
>ut dredging works on Shaft and at Bar of river. I have been privately inform-
3 d by the Admiralty that, to unde rtake these operations without the best expert