Completion of the so-called Lowdermilk Plan for the development of the Jordan River Valley and the coastal region of Palestine was revealed today by Emanuel Neumann, head of the Commission on Palestine Surveys and vice president of the Zionist Organization of America. Mr. Neumann and James B. Hays, chief engineer for the survey, are flying to Jerusalem tomorrow to present the plans to the Anglo-American inquiry committee and to Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of the Jewish Agency.
Designed to be built in eight stages, the project, which would include irrigation and power development, is expected to cost approximately $250,000,000. Mr. Hays estimated that the entire eight stages could be built and in operation within a period of ten years, if he got the “go-ahead” signal. The first stage could be in operation within a year, he said, pointing out that the people of Palestine could derive immense benefits from the first projects, while the complete system, stretching from the northern headwaters of the Jordan to the Negev, on Palestine’s southern border, was being finished.
Mr. Neumann asserted that as a direct result of the proposed irrigation improvements, Palestine could accommodate 500,000 new farmers and that an additional 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 people could be supported by the needs of this agricultural population, as well as by the industry which would develop as a result of the hydro-electric and steam power encompassed by the plan.
FIRST STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT WOULD COST THIRTY MILLION DOLLARS
The project would require over 300 miles of irrigation canals and nearly 100 miles for the power canal bringing sea water from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea. The first stage would involve the use of pumps to exploit underground water resources in the coastal areas, and would cost $30,000,000. The next two phases propose the diversion of some of the headwaters and tributaries of the Jordan to irrigate a large plain extending from near Haifa east and southward toward the Jordan River.
The fourth stage is envisaged as the building of the canal from the Mediterranean at Haifa to the Dead Sea to carry sea water for maintaining the level of the latter body of water after most of the Jordon’s flow was diverted. The electricity to be generated by this canal is estimated at over 500,000 kilowatt hours, and the canal and necessary power installations would cost approximately $43,000,000. It is from this source that most of the power to operate the various pumping systems required for the vast irrigation set-up would be obtained.
Stages five and six would involve additional diversion of flood waters from the headwaters of the Jordan, as well as many of the coastal springs, for further use in the coastal areas. Some of these coastal sources are now not in use because the springs are too saline. However, when these waters are mixed with the sweet water of the Jordan they will become valuable in the exploitation of much of the coastal region. The seventh stage involves use of a portion of the Jordan just before it empties into the Dead Sea for farming in that area. The last part of the plan would be the irrigation of the Negev.
Discussing financing of this scheme, Mr. Neumann proposed that the Palestine Government and the Jewish Agency and other Jewish groups supply part of the funds, with private capital sources furnishing the remainder. In addition, he proposed that a trust fund be established from Nazi-looted Jewish community property in Germany and Austria and some of the money used on this project, thus providing for the re-establishment and rehabilitation of European Jews in these areas of Palestine.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
