'THE GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF DHUFAR PROVINCE, MUSCAT AND OMAN' [‎49r] (87/96)

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agriculture, fisheries, minerals, etc.—on which the State might feel
it could not itself embark immediately.) The terms would include
the right of the State to take up 25% of the shares of the managing
agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. and of any subsidiary firm, at any time, at market prices
and to buy the industries outright after 25 years.
Water-power and Water-suppey
110. Throughout the Report there has been mention of water,
evidence of abundance of water either at springs, or signs of floods
and evidence of considerable underground movement of water.
There is no doubt that the Rizat and perhaps the Sahnut springs
could yield electric power by establishing a hydro-electric station
out in the plains at, say, Mahmulah or elsewhere convenient. The
site must still permit the tail water to have command for irrigation.
These details can only be fully understood and appreciated after all
available data are collected—relating to volume of hot weather
discharge, difference of level between places, character of water, etc.
The State Engineer could do much of this if he were not too heavily
engaged in other engineering duties, but with one or two qualified
assistant engineers (one for irrigation questions and the other for
roads and buildings) he could be freed for this important work. It
might include questions of storage, say, a dam in the debouche of
the Rizat spring and another downstream from Sahnut and a third,
perhaps the most important, at the marsh at Risut. The problems
of storage in the wadis of the Qarn Shaiba might be attended to
subsequently.
Recommendations
111 . I have no hesitation in saying that I consider the province
of Dhufar, which has an exceptionally mild climate for southern
Arabia, to be endowed with other advantages both mineral and
agricultural. The mineral resources are of the kind that can be
best exploited on the largest possible scale. For this reason an
exploration company or corporation (private enterprise) would, 111
mv opinion, be the most efficient mode of opening up the mineral
industries: Petroleum, Cement, Chemicals, etc. To encourage such
industrialists the State would be well advised to have maps produced
for mineral and other surveys to be properly conducted. Ihis is a
relatively small expenditure, but I do not think any useful purpose
will be served at this stage by a geological survey (which requires
considerable field experience) until the topographical maps are
ready, and even then the expense could be readily borne and the
work done more expeditiously by a private firm than ^ the
State (which would have to engage a geologist—a matter that is no
easv at oresent owing to the lack of really experienced geologists).
The subject of having an agricultural expert who had experience 111