Printed papers on the political situation and military policy in Egypt [‎58r] (115/176)

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328. it can hardly be doubted that, sooner or later, the storage water which
the tlebel Aulia reservoir has been intended to provide will have to be obtained,
ihe population of Egypt continues to grow rapidly, and even now a low flood entails
serious hardship. It is almost certain, for instance, that the 1922 summer water
supply, even with the help of the Assouan reservoir, will be insufficient to allow of
any rice at all being grown in the country. Meanwhile, the vital problem of what
should be done, under the present financial conditions, in regard to the plans for
increasing storage as well as for developing and extending the irrigation and
drainage systems is not being neglected, and in the autumn the Government waa
Very fortunate in securing the services of Mr. C. E. Depuis for the purpose of
investigating this question. Mr. Depuis, who was formerly Adviser to the Ministry
and who retired in 1912, has long experience of irrigation in India, in Egypt and
in the Soudan, and it is confidently expected that his advice will indicate the best
means of satisfying the irrigation requirements of the country under the present
circumstances. He is at the same time investigating what administrative means
can be devised that will most conveniently enable the Ministries of Finance, Public
Works and Agriculture to combine in prosecuting the further development of
Egyptian cultivation.
329. The work which the Ministry of Public Works has been carrying out on
the Blue Nile on behalf of the Soudan Government, and which consists in the con
struction of a dam at Makwar and the canalisation of the Gezira, suffered from the
same heavy increase in prices as affected the works at Gebel Aulia. The estimate on
which the works were being carried out was £E. 2,350,000 for the dam and
£E. 1,150,000 for the canalisation, or a total of £E.3,500,000. This had to be
increased to E. 5,692,400 for the dam and £E. 2,560,400 for the canalisation, or a
total of £E. 8,252,800. On the 25th May the Council of Ministers, in taking the
decision to interrupt the works on the Gebel Aulia dam, expressed themselves in
favour also of the suspension of work upon the Sennar dam, and added that, should
the Soudan Government, nevertheless, wish to go on with that undertaking, it would
remain understood that it should not, without further consideration, serve to irrigate
a greater area than 300,000 feddans. The Soudan Government decided to continue
the work, which, however, after expert inspection was temporarily suspended in
March 1922.
51. State Buildings.
330. The most important piece of business in which the State Buildings Depart
ment was interested during the year was connected with the new hospital and medical
school to be built in Cairo in replacement of Kasr-el-Aini Hospital and School. It
had been decided to hold a public international competition for this undertaking,
and architects were accordingly invited to submit designs for a preliminary selection.
Sixty-six competitors responded, of whom forty-one were British, seven French, six
Swiss, three Egyptian, three American, two Italian, one German, one Finnish, one a
Spaniard and one a Swede. Mr. J. W. Simpson, past president of the Royal Insti
tute of British Architects, was good enough to visit Egypt and act as assessor in the
competition. The six successful competitors, of whom five are British and one is
French, have been invited to compete in the final stage of the competition with six
selected architects of repute, three British, two French and one American. The
designs, in the final competition will be submitted next October.
331. Financial restrictions prevented as much building by the department as
would otherwise have been undertaken ; the staff was, however, able to make up
arrears of designing which had accumulated during the war, and the following work
of importance was actually done : extensions to Khanka Asylum, costing £E. 79,800;
additions to the Cairo School of Medicine, costing £E. 37,850; central laboratories
for the Department of Public Health at a cost of £E. 32,900; and a new Veterinary
School at Giza, costing £E. 24,300.
52. Cairo City Service.
332. The approximate total expenditure of the Cairo Tanzim Department
during the year was £E. 384.000 as against £E. 576.000 in 1920. The reduction is
largely explained by there having been included in last year's account a special sum
of £lL 162,000 for the purchase of the site of the new Cairo Hospital, to which
reference has been made above. A total sum of approximately £E. 170.000, inclusive
of transport, was expended on maintenance of roads and gardens as against
£E. 162.000 in 1920.
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