Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – August 21, 1996

After the prayer, I did the work until seven in the morning and read the reports. We went to the old airport and flew by helicopters to the Isfahan Steel Mill. We visited the various sections that have been renovated. By combining Western technology, they have modernized the factory and increased production capacity by fifty percent. In the building of the "Qaem 1" project, which is an Iranian initiative and was carried out under the management of Engineer [Ahmad] Sadeghi, the managing director of the steel mill, with a production capacity of 600 thousand tons of sponge iron by the direct reduction method, we heard explanations. The program was broadcast live on television. The cost of this method is 30 percent less than existing methods. The Ministry of Intelligence expresses doubt about the accuracy of the claims, but offers no reason. The factory is practically working. After the speech of [Hossein Mahlouji], the Minister of Mines and Metals, I gave an encouraging speech; both on the greatness of the initiative and on the importance of the reconstruction of the Isfahan Steel Mill and on the good indicators of the ministry's work in the production of mines and metals, and I announced my agreement for the expansion of Mobarakeh Steel to six million tons at a foreign-currency cost of 500 million dollars. We visited the "Qaem 2" factory. The workers had an enthusiastic gathering in the yard, and the choir group, a mix of men and women, could not perform the [steel] anthem well.

We went by car to inaugurate the ferromanganese factory; it is an important work and mainly domestically built. In the past, such a project would have been built at a foreign-currency cost of about 25 million dollars, and now it has a foreign-currency cost of about one million dollars. Then, for the inauguration of gas supply, we went to the town of Bagh Bahadoran. The people had gathered. After the speech of [Mr. Hamid-Reza Iraqi], the province's Director-General of Gas, and the Governor, and [Mr. Tarabizadeh], the representative of the town [of Lenjan and Mobarakeh], I too gave a short speech.

For the inauguration of an agricultural land consolidation project beside the Zayandeh Rud for five villages [of Bidjam, Baba Sheikh Ali, Behjatabad, Kaleh Salman, Kaleh Masih, and the town of Sedeh], covering 208 hectares, we went. [Mr. Isa Kalantari], the Minister of Agriculture, and the Director-General of Agriculture gave explanations, and I too spoke on the importance of such projects in terms of saving water, seed, fertilizer, and machinery consumption and the growth of produce and the area under cultivation. The people of the surrounding villages had a warm gathering, and along the way too we were met everywhere with the welcome of the villages and towns on the route, and especially in the military town where there was a huge crowd.

We flew to the site of the Polyacryl factory. The executive work of the factory's expansion began. Prayers, lunch, a rest, and responding to the warm feelings of the workers and a short interview took place. It has high added value and the foreign-currency requirement has also decreased.

For the inauguration of the important alloy steel factory, we flew to the Seventh Tir Military Industries Complex. After the military welcome and hearing the justifications of Engineer [Gholam-Ali] Kiani, [Managing Director of the Defense Industries Organization], we visited the factory, with a capacity of 30 thousand tons of special and expensive steel produced from scrap iron as raw material, with the good explanations of the managers. Then, among the staff, I gave a speech on the importance of this factory for the military industries and the country and the problems arising from not having these steels, some of which they do not sell to us.

We flew toward Shahreza. The welcome of the people of Shahreza was very warm and magnificent. Before the ceremony, we unveiled the memorial plaque for the start of executive operations of the water supply network to Shahreza. It is a network that, with a line length of 67 kilometers, brings water from the Kasgan River and the karst areas to Shahreza. At the Takhti Stadium, a thousand-strong student choir sang a good anthem. Then [Mr. Khalil Malekian], the Friday Prayer Imam, and [Mr. Qodratollah Najafi], the town's representative, gave a warm welcome, and I spoke about the dignitaries of Shahreza and the construction program.

Then we flew to the site of the "Rud Dasht" diversion barrage. Mr. Zangeneh, [Minister of Energy], and Mr. Islamian, the province's Director-General of Water, gave a report on three important projects for diverting the water of the Zayandeh Rud and the plains of Barkhar, Mahyar, and Jarqavieh, and this same site, at a cost of seven billion tomans. I too spoke and proposed that they think of a way to use the saline water and drainage of Isfahan. We visited the diversion barrages.

We flew toward the city of Isfahan. We arrived after sunset. We inaugurated the Amir Kabir Administrative Complex; it is an effective work. Based on a resolution of the Supreme Administrative Council, they have built several offices in one place to "facilitate" the work of referrals and offices. Mr. [Abbas] Akhoundi, [Minister of Housing and Urban Development], gave a report, and I too gave a short speech on the importance of this work and emphasized its implementation in other provinces and districts.

To take part in the Construction Celebration, we went to the Takhti Stadium. Twenty thousand people had been invited. [Mr. Eshaq Jahangiri], the Governor-General, gave a report. A good anthem and performance by the Art Bureau of the [Islamic] Propagation Organization was presented. I too spoke and awarded the [Medal of Merit] to Messrs. [Ahmad] Sadeghi, [Managing Director of the Isfahan Steel Mill Company], [Rasoul] Zargar, [Development Deputy of the Isfahan Governor-General's Office], and [Hossein] Shahab [al-Din, Deputy Minister of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones]. We went for dinner and sleep.