(5) Principal Fields of Investment
Communications.—On the possibilities of the development of railways and ports, cf. pp. 77 and 84. Though essential needs are fairly well satisfied by the existing railway system, there is room for improvement, especially by the extension of local branch lines. With regard to ports, the construction of suitable works at Jaffa, Haifa, and Alexandretta is urgently demanded. For the last of these the Baghdad Railway Company holds the concession; for Jaffa and Haifa (with Tripoli) a concession was granted in 1913 to France, and some preliminary financial arrangements were made which have now lapsed in consequence of the war.
Mining.—The prospects here are very uncertain, and further scientific investigation is required. Explorers have noted the occurrence of metals, &c., at various points, but the possibility of their being profitably exploited is not established. Fuel is a vital want, but so far neither coal nor petroleum has been obtained in any quantity. That a profitable oilfield exists within the borders of Syria has yet to be proved; recent expert examinations of concessions in the neighbourhood of Latakia and to the east of the Jordan and the Dead Sea were not of a very hopeful character. The potentialities of the phosphate deposits of the latter region (cf. p. 111) are also not yet fully ascertained. Electricity-In the absence of combustibles, the utilisation of water-power, for which sufficient opportunities exist (cf. p. 120), should be especially fruitful. Of the larger towns only Beirut and Damascus are at present supplied with electricity.
Agricultural dévelopment.—Both in drainage and irrigation much remains to be done. On the coast about Alexandretta and between Jaffa and Gaza, as well as inland north of Antioch and about the Lakes of Hule and Tiberias, large tracts of land might be reclaimed. Cultivation is also capable of appreciable extension and improvement by irrigation, either by pumping, in
