Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – July 16, 1997

After the morning prayer and having breakfast and reading the reports, the Governor-General and the deputies and the members of their families came. I greeted them. We went to the airport. On the way, [Mr. Gholam-Ali Sefid], the Governor-General, raised the province's requests and gave a report on the agreement with Russia for the transfer of cloud-seeding technology and artificial rain; it was arranged that we would pay its cost.

We flew toward Sirjan. After the official welcome and the interesting anthem of the martyrs' daughters, who had worn interesting white clothes, we went to the Sirjan Special Economic Zone. On the way we visited a pistachio orchard; it had been protected from the cold blight and had good pistachios.

At the special zone, we visited the industrial section and the warehouses. At the ceremony we visited the exhibition of eleven factories that had been commissioned and spoke with their owners. Then we heard the report of the Minister of Industries and the zone's director. I spoke and spoke of these units' success in achieving their goals and emphasized the effectiveness of the free and special zones in our time.

We went to inaugurate the shortwave radio transmitters center. We visited the transmitters and antennas. They said this center can cover the world with ten transmitters and forty antennas. We heard the report of Mr. [Ali] Larijani, [Head of the Broadcasting Organization], and I too spoke; on the important role of the overseas broadcast, if we give it good content. They asked for help to bring the site's vast lands under pistachio cultivation with the two wells they have. Mr. Mirzadeh's father also came to greet us.

We flew toward Sarcheshmeh copper. We arrived near noon. After prayers, lunch, and a rest, at three in the afternoon we began the work. The inauguration of gas operation by lighting the burner, and a visit to the leaching plant, which is very interesting; it is a new technology that we have taken from China. Copper ores that are oxide can be used in this method, and by pouring water with an acid solution, the copper is separated from the stone and collected by melting in a pool and then goes to the refinery and is separated from the water with another solution and sticks to the cathode. This unit has a capacity of 14 thousand tons.

We broke ground for the expansion of the Sarcheshmeh copper industries to 250 thousand tons and also broke ground for the petrochemical factory. With the toxic sulfur dioxide gas of the copper factory and the phosphate soil of the mine, superphosphate fertilizer will be produced. We visited the self-sufficiency exhibition of the copper industries and went to the stadium for the ceremony.

They performed an interesting anthem for the construction programs. We heard the report of Mr. Mahlouji and the report of Mr. Hosseini for the petrochemical plant. I spoke about the importance of the copper industries and the leaching project and the petrochemical development, and also the projects for the production of coke and the tar refinery in Zarand, for whose groundbreaking ceremony Mr. Mahlouji, together with Mr. Saeedi-Kia, was sent.

On the flight toward Kerman, the helicopter carrying Mohsen and Hossein Mar'ashi, during the flight, lost its balance because of the Shinook winds and turned toward the ground and hit the ground from a few meters and its landing gear broke, but no one was harmed; praise be to God. On the way, Mr. [Morteza] Bank, [the Governor-General of Kerman], was giving explanations, but he does not have sufficient knowledge of Kerman's geography. For the ceremony of Kerman's electricity, gas, and water and wastewater, we landed at the power substation site. We heard a report and I spoke. I gave a medal to Mr. [Gholam-Reza] Manouchehri, [Deputy Minister of Energy for Urban Water and Wastewater Affairs].

Then we went to the medical university. After the sunset and evening prayers, there was the ceremony for the inauguration of numerous development projects. Several textile and asbestos factories and 300 rural development projects of Construction Jihad and 25 cooperative projects, 400 telecommunications projects and the free rural medical insurance project and several vocational training projects and several educational and housing and welfare projects, about which the Ministers of Housing and Cooperatives and the deputies of Health, Telecommunications, and Construction Jihad and the Governor-General gave reports. They performed a very interesting anthem describing my government and gave an exquisite carpet as a gift. They said four years of work had gone into it. The program lasted a long time, and I became tired. I gave a short speech.

Then we set off toward the airport. On the way I saw the interesting gas burner in the square. We flew toward Tehran. We had dinner on the way. Mr. [Hossein] Mar'ashi teased Mr. Mirzadeh a little; because of his untimely support for Mr. Nateq! Previously too, Sheikh Mohammad [Hashemian] in Sarcheshmeh had complained about Mr. Hossein Mar'ashi's taunt on this same subject. At one in the morning, exhausted and in intense heat, we fell asleep at home.