A Strong Dam Case

Give an American a vague generalization like "longterm foreign aid" and he mistrusts it. Give him a daring development project that can be accomplished only by installment payments, and he sees the point. Last week, in a not-for-attribution background press briefing, a "high Government source" finally got down to cases in the Administration's long-bobbled plea to Congress for authority to make long-term foreign-aid commitments (TIME, Jan. 2).

The case in point was the Aswan Dam, which would harness the Nile, provide the parched areas of Egypt with the largest man-made reservoir in the world (and, in fact, do as much for the Egyptian economy as all public works since 1900 have done for the U.S. economy). Highlights of the briefing:

P: In the unstable Middle East, the State Department believes, such vast economic improvement will help bring stability and help strengthen Egypt against Communist attempts at penetration.

P: The Administration wants no specific funds this year, but needs congressional authority to promise Egypt that a share of foreign-aid budgets (probably $15 million to $20 million a year) can go to the Aswan project for the 10-to-15-year period of construction. Says the Administration's spokesman: "You can't build an eighth of a dam or half a dam and add to it later."

P: Total cost will be $1.3 billion. Egypt will pay about $900 million. The World Bank will probably put up some $200 million, most of which it will try to pass along to private capital. But the bank cannot commit this kind of money unless it is sure that the U.S. (plus Britain) will put up the remainder and stick with the project until the dam is completed.

Faced with specifics like these, Congress may find it difficult to get away with an offhand opposition to the phrase "longterm foreign aid."

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