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A dutiful son of Sharjah

SHARJAH — He devoted his life to the development of the emirate of Sharjah and made great efforts over the years to help the emirate grow by leaps and bounds. Come to think of it, his contribution to the development of Arab Cultural Council alone is enough to make him stand apart as a person.

Haj Hamad Abdullah Hamad, Manager of the Load Despatch Centre of Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (Sewa), is a respected engineer in the emirate, and a highly regarded member of the Arab community.

His contribution to Sharjah and the heaps he got in return, he says, is what has kept him going, and he will not give up his job until a son of Sharjah comes and takes over from him.

Haj Hamad was deputed by the Sharjah Government in 1970 to work in the Department of Water and Electricity, which was run by the British. He contributed to nationalising the department gradually, by working hard to install various types of lines till it totally and fully belonged to the Sharjah government.

When Haj Hamad came to the emirate, there were only 14 electricity stations, but with his help and the wise leaders of Sharjah Government and the efforts of His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, the number of power-stations in various parts of the emirate increased to the present number of 3,000.

Narrating the story of rapid development that Sharjah witnessed during the 1970s and 1980s, Haj Hamad said that development began after the British, who used to have a military base and airport in Al Qassimia, left the country in 1971.

To begin with, there were only a few buildings scattered in various parts of the emirate, and only a few streets, notable among which were the Al Arooba and Al Zahra streets. Due to the scattered buildings and sandy patches, electricity engineers faced several difficulties while installing cables and transformers to supply electricity to the residential, hospital and commercial areas of the emirate. But development picked up in the 1970s when Al Wahda Street with its commercial outlets was constructed and the Al Khour (creek) was transformed to Buhairah, which today has become the popular Al Buhairah Corniche.

Haj Hamad said Shaikh Dr Sultan directly monitored the works of the development in all fields and spent all his time instructing directors of the development projects, which made Sharjah, Khorfakkan and Kalba models for modern cities.

As an active community member of the Arab community, Haj Hamad was appointed chairman of the Arab Cultural Council. He also founded the Arab Cultural Club and remained its chairman till the beginning of 2005.

Haj Hamad, who was honoured by Dr Shaikh Sultan several times for his role in the emirate's development, takes great pride in the contribution, which he and his family have made in a humble way to the development of Sharjah and Sudan. But even with all that, he refuses to forget his roots, Arab culture and heritage, which he promotes through lectures and functions that he regularly organises at the Arab Cultural Club.