ABSTRACT
The Port Sudan Land Allotment Board, which had overseen the early development of the city, ceased to function in 1913. The performance of the Port Sudan Municipal Council during the 1920s and 1930s no doubt reinforced their cynicism. Few observations could better illustrate the contempt in which the council was held—or offer a more succinct insight as to how the glaring disparities marking so many aspects of life in Port Sudan by the start of World War II had come about. In 1935, the governor of Kassala Province, who had served as commissioner in Port Sudan from 1932 to 1934, wrote Alas, the Government descended on the place with a heavy hand. Officials in Port Sudan-particularly the inspector and the district engineer, both of whom participated extensively in these tasks-appredated the need to formulate polides that would carefully manage the city’s physical growth.
