"ملف ٦/٤ II الحدود الكويتية-العراقية" [و‎‎١‎٦‎٥] (٤٤٠/٣٢٩)

British Caneulate-OanerKl,
ITo .125
( 1 3Ai/2;
Dear Chancery,
In yojr letter No* 713/5/4*7 of the
20th January, 1543
24th June, 1747 you aeked u® to keep you infor aad of
the progreas of the proposed new Installation fop
the port of Baera at HAHilAQ opposite
•Tune laat becauae we now have a new jirectox*-General
of Porta and havigation, Col. Johnson., who tells ua
he ia not at all sure that the HAE^iAU scheme is a sound
one. The Port, he s^ys, ouat certainly have the engin
eering faoi3.itios envisaged for the HAftMA* scheme <*nd
they are already ordering the necessary machinery and
etiuir: lent for it but he personally la not yet convinced
that RA&lAi is the best location for the ne* plant*
He is inclined to think PAD is a hotter place for it,
or perhaps ‘.iAHCkX'L or even Ud*4 sAftii* The mioie
ciuestIon is now under review by his departiiental experts
and he expects to reach a final decision shortly*
The principal weakness of the scheme uu
Col# Johnson ss^s it is that it depends ent rely on the
usefor three .ionths of the year of a floating - dock
which will belong to Die nglo-Jrnnlan Oil Co* Ltd (a
non-Iraqi company) and will be stetioned in ucn-Iraqi
waters* If for r»ny reason tho Iranian author!tlea
saw fit to deny to the Port the privilege access to or
use of this dock the shale costly Installation at HARiiAC
would be rendered entirely useless. Also, if in two
years* time the pnglo-Ircnian Oil Co* finds that it
needs the use of the floating dock for its own shipping
for all twelve months of the yw»r instead of only nine
the HAKU* Inet&iletion would again be left high and dry.
Colonel Johnson therefore feels that the installation
envisaged should be only set up in association with a
floating dock or graving dock actually o tied end control
led by the Port itself and located in Iraqi waters.
/he tier such a dock would be best sited at HARM A # ?A0,
UaHOIL or Udd QASR ia a quest ion Which ia being c reful-y
studied but on which so far he reserves an open iind*
The picture has changed somewhat slnee
Yours ever,
(XmmLSI£-Q W^tLAL
The cJiancery
3 r itish i*.mbasay
Bagdad.