§ Mr. J. Johnsonasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will give particulars of the economic projects in Somaliland which the Protectorate Government have begun to date, and those which are to be started during 1957.
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§ Mr. Lennox-BoydI assume that the first part of the Question refers to economic projects which are still in progress. These are as follows—the amounts shown being those so far allocated in schemes approved under the 1955 Colonial Development and Welfare Act:
£ Hides and skins (to improve their quality) 33,440 Agricultural credit (loans to farmers—revolving fund) 7,760 Camel abattoir (to cull old animals and produce fertilisers and other products) 68,000 Date cultivation (for the experimental growing of date palms) 39,000 Fisheries (to investigate the possibility of establishing an organised fishing industry) 5400 Bonification (improvement of agricultural land) 21,700 Transport pool for agricultural schemes 7,662 Experimental farms (to provide facilities for agricultural research and controlled experiment) 4,750 Forestry development 108,600 Range management (improvement of pasture land) 8,768 Agricultural education (for the training of agricultural instructors, forest rangers and stock inspectors) 2,500 Irrigation and soil conservation 57,900 Hydrological survey (to establish possible sources of water supply) 24,890 Improvement of Hargeisa water supply 80,000 Geological survey 58,876 Total: £529,246 Some of the above schemes represents continuations of schemes started under the 1945 Colonial Development and Welfare Act, e.g., under that earlier Act, £41,556 was spent on date cultivation, and £74,372 was allocated for geological survey.
Economic projects which are expected to be started in 1957 are:
£ Improvement of Berbera Port, approx 300,000 Rural water supplies 20,000 Construction of a gum and incense warehouse in Aden (to provide storage for gum and incense, so that Somaliland may obtain additional revenue from sales and to enable the Somaliland merchants to obtain economics prices by avoiding forced sales) 18,900 £358,900