Foto ADMA DEVELOPMENT: DAS ISLAND I called on Mr. F. Chesworth of Bechtel International at the Al Ain Palace Hotel last evening to have a general talk about their forthcoming operations in Abu Dhabi. Mr. Chesworth confirmed that the agreement between Bechtel and Tokyo Tlectric Power Company Inc. on the one side and B.P. ADMA on the other had been signed on 15 December and that work was now about to start on the IG Plant on Das Island. As a first stage Bechtel would be setting a small office in Abu Dhabi staffed by Americans to organise the ground work for future operations. Tender notices have been issued to CCC, Joannou and Paraskevaides. Group of Nicosia, Taylor and Woodrow International Limited, and Lessor Limited for the construction of prefabricated camps for the work force. The value of these camps is in the region of $5 million. The sites for the camps have not yet been officially decided but will either be between The Club and the Abbatoir or on the right hand side. of the Airport Road after the ministry of Dblic Works. By the end of 1973 there will be a work force of some 2,000 people on Das Island and 1,500 in Abu Dhabi, prefabricating and erecting the plant. The whole operation will be managed from a central office here in which there will probably be over 100 British Starf. The Manager desiate for the job is also British. Mr. Chesworth said that a lot of the material for the Plant would come from Japan as part of the licensing arrangements and a considerable amount would also come from the U.S.A. who have the expertise in this sphere of LNG production, the U.K. would be supplying peripheral e cuipment. The Plant is to be in production by the end of 1975. This enourmous project is bound to have considerable impact on the economy of Abu Dhabi and strain its resources considerably. One of the problems facing the contractors is that of labour and they will have to import Welders etc., from Pakistan. I advised Mr. Chesworth that it was in his prime interest to get a first rate local merely to keep the finistry of Labour happy. I was advised that Mr. Gordon Goodrich, the Vice President of Bechtel who was here during the Summer, will be coming back to Abu Dhabi sometime this month and I hope then to have the opportunity of having a long discussion with him about this project. Bechtel are not having very much to do with ADHA at the moment, since they reckon they will need all the goo 71 in the world later on in the contract. 2 DTI
