the inadequacy
of the measures taken by the state and in particular widespread corruption
have so far rendered all projects to combat soil salinity futile. Kishk (1993: 83)
gives a characteristic example. For years there was a national project to instal
an underground tile pipe drainage system with the support of foreign donors.
Its failure could be all too easily foreseen, for owing to corruption only half
of the drainage pipes were in reality put in place. The system would, however,
only work if the drainage net was complete. Also, the installation of the pipes
at a certain depth and with a certain gradient was not carried out with the
necessary precision, and through the negligence of the firms contracted the
sand and mud filters to be installed at junctions were often not put in place
at all. So this project, not lacking in good planning and expertise as well as
financing, eventually failed (see also Table 6.1).