Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – February 24, 1996

We took off from Ramsar Airport at quarter past seven in the morning. I worked full-time until 7:15 when we landed at Mehrabad Airport; Either on the flight or in visiting the plans. We were flying from Ramsar to Kalaleh airport for one hour and ten minutes. With the welcome of officials and scholars, we went with helicopters to the Gerkaz Dam site on the Gorganrud River - near the village of "Arab Sornak" - on the coast of Gonbad city.

We visited the interesting exhibition of dam building and water transfer programs in Mazandaran. At the ceremony, Mr. Zanganeh, [Energy Minister] gave a report on the dam; Two reservoir dams and one diversion dam and canals and networks with a credit of ninety billion Rials will be built for a period of two years, which will have a major impact on the agriculture of the region. I also talked about the importance of water control programs and that the credits of Mazandaran province have increased 170 times since 1364, and I mentioned the important plan to transfer one billion cubic meters of water from the west and center of Mazandaran to the eastern region of the province.

We flew to Bandargaz. [Mr. Ali Asghar Granmayepour], the governor [of Mazandaran], was giving explanations on the way, but his information is not extensive and complete. The extremely foggy weather in the port area made us fly out of the city. There after answering the feelings of the villagers

who were gathered, we came to the city by car. We went to the site of the new port for the opening. When I came to this city two years ago, people demanded that we build their port and they couldn't believe that it would be built so quickly. After the First World War and the formation of the Soviet Union, this port was closed and destroyed.

They also had an exhibition of port construction plans, which we saw. We also went around the boats stationed in the port. They explained and demanded that we dredge the Khazini channel so that their way would be closer. I told Engineer Turkan, [Minister of Roads and Transport] to take action. At the ceremony, we heard Mr. Turkan's report and I gave the [3rd degree] service badge to engineer [Abdullah] Mohammad Hashem, [Deputy Minister of Roads and Transport] and I spoke about the importance of ports in the Caspian and the southeastern part of the country.

We flew to the shipyard next to the Neka power plant. On the way, we visited Miankala Bay and its peninsula; An idea arose to close the mouth of the bay and turn it into a huge reservoir of fresh water. From space, we saw Amirabad Port - under construction - and the railway. After landing, the towboat built there was launched.

We were guests of the Ministry of Oil for lunch. After the prayer, we flew to Iran-Caspian platform. It is a huge drilling rig. It was built in Iran Sadra company and with the cooperation of Finland, at a cost of 73 million dollars; It is worth acquiring this technology. The oil company wants to build the second rig with the amount of 55 million dollars. The helicopter landed on the platform. He dropped us off and went to fetch others. We visited different departments and participated in the ceremony in the meeting hall; It was broadcasted directly from the national television network. After the report of [Mr. Gholamreza Aghazadeh], Minister of Oil and Mr. [Hujtollah] Ghonimi Fard, [Deputy Minister of Oil], I spoke about the importance of building this rig and shipbuilding company, after years of exclusion from this industry and its harm, and the importance of exploring oil and gas resources here.

We flew to the Pashakala Dam [= Alborz Dam]. We got off at Lefour. I participated in the gathering of people whose villages are supposed to be drowned in the dam lake and a plan will be implemented to resettle them and change their lands. We went to the dam site. Mr. Zanganeh, [Minister of Energy], reported and I spoke briefly. The cost of the dam and canals is about 25 billion tomans. The work started with two explosions. After sunset, we flew to Sari and went to Tehran from Sari airport.