Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – May 29, 1997

At seven in the morning we flew from the airport toward Bojnurd. Mohsen, Mehdi, Yaser, Effat, and [Messrs. Bijan Namdar] Zanganeh, [Minister of Energy], [Mohammad-Reza] Nematzadeh, [Minister of Industries], [Hossein] Mahlouji, [Minister of Mines and Metals], [Hamid] Mirzadeh, [Head of the Plan and Budget Organization], and [Hadi] Manafi, [Head of the Environment Organization], were with us. After the official welcome, we went by helicopters to the village of Sheikh. We visited the houses under construction to replace the people's destroyed houses; each is being built with a suitable floor area and 300 meters of land and is earthquake-resistant.

A group of people from the neighboring villages had also come and complained that the reconstruction work in their village had not begun. Mr. [Rasoul] Zargar, the [Development] Deputy of the Minister of Interior, explained that a loan of one million and 200 thousand tomans and 200 thousand tomans of assistance is being given to each household for reconstruction; I give the assistance.

I went among the villagers and greeted them. I also asked the building contractor. They expressed warm feelings. I gave them a speech. I thanked them and promised speed in the reconstruction. They have moved the village site a little, because at the former site stones were falling from the neighboring mountain and it is dangerous.

I went to the site of the Sajjadieh residential complex in Shirvan. They have consolidated four neighboring villages whose sites were unsuitable in a suitable place. A good place has been chosen and it will become a settlement with suitable streets and structure. The people of three villages have given their consent and one of them does not agree. They were worried about the lack of water supply, and it was arranged that the digging of the wells be expedited.

There too I went among the people and spoke with the families. They are satisfied with the relief services and demand speed in the reconstruction. I saw several units under construction and spoke among the large crowd of people. They are very enthusiastic and content and hardworking, with farming and livestock occupations, and their farming is also rain-fed, and we also saw the village of Quri in Band, which has a lot of destruction.

We flew toward Neyshabur. Because of the distance, the helicopter was tiring. We landed at the site of the Neyshabur power plant. It has a very pleasant view. The project executor and [Mr. Bijan Namdar] Zanganeh, [Minister of Energy], gave explanations. It is a thousand megawatts, with six gas units and three steam units in a combined cycle, at 300 million dollars and 70 billion tomans in rials. I inaugurated the first phase and broke ground for the second phase and spoke among the staff. At the same time, five electricity transmission projects were also inaugurated, and an explanation was given of the 400-kilovolt transmission line that connects Khorasan to the national grid. I spoke about the importance of Neyshabur and the necessity of further development of the region and attention to the development of Tabas and activating the coal mines and implementing the Bafq–Mashhad and Sangan–Neyshabur railways.

After prayers, lunch, and a rest, we went to the site of the Khorasan Steel Mill. Mr. [Hossein] Mahlouji, [Minister of Mines and Metals], and Mr. Sahhabi explained the plan for producing two million tons of steel, on a land area of 1,400 hectares. The executive work of the first phase has progress, but today its implementation was officially announced and started. At the gathering of those present, Mr. Mahlouji spoke and an explanation was given about the economic importance of the Tabas coal mines and the Sangan iron ore. I too spoke about the importance of the steel industries and their progress in the two plans and the prospect of faster development in the future.

Mrs. Daniele, the director of the Italian steel company, had also come. She presented a check for twenty million tomans to help the earthquake victims. I welcomed her. She is an interesting and active woman manager and is interested in Iran.

I also visited the rain-fed almond orchard right there; it is interesting. The ceremony for the start of work began with the earth-moving by an excavator that was filmed from a distance, and it was interesting. We flew toward Torbat-e Heydarieh. We landed beside the Shahid Yaqubi Dam. We also visited the various sections and heard explanations. The people around had an enthusiastic gathering.

At the commissioning ceremony, Mr. Zanganeh, [Minister of Energy], gave a report on the water situation of Khorasan Province and about 30 dams under construction and study, most of which are small, and given the province's annual average rainfall of 170 millimeters, there is water scarcity. The Yaqubi Dam, at a cost of more than eight billion tomans, has a capacity of 60 million cubic meters of water.

I too spoke about the importance of harnessing Khorasan's waters and saving on consumption and thanked the farmers below the dam who use the dam's water with the pressurized irrigation method. For each hectare, with the government's loan, they spend more than 300 thousand tomans. The dam's water goes to the fields through large pipes and with a lot of energy. The father-in-law of the martyr [Mohammad-Mehdi] Yaqubi recited an eloquent poem that he had composed describing me. Mr. [Ali-Asghar] Masoumi, the Friday Prayer Imam, praised my work eloquently and, citing the Leadership's recent statements, said that after Mr. Hashemi we may have another president, but we will certainly not have another Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani.

We visited the water transfer tunnel and the beautiful view of the water exiting into the stilling basin that came out of the bottom discharge gate. With the ululations and takbirs of the crowd, a magnificent scene was created. In my remarks I promised that I would transfer the claim of account 210 from the Shahid Yaqubi Dam to another dam in Neyshabur, so that it too would be built, and I also agreed that we would buy the dam's workshop buildings and turn them into a recreational and educational camp for the people of Rashtkhvar and Torbat.

We flew toward Mashhad. With a one-hour delay, near sunset we landed in the Tus industrial park on the Quchan road. The plaque for the inauguration of the park, with more than 200 hectares of land and several hundred industrial units, was unveiled. At the site of the Teklan Tus factory, [Mr. Mohammad Bahrainian], the managing director, gave explanations and spoke at length; it is a modern factory for producing car brakes and clutches. It belongs to the private sector. We visited the production hall with its modern and abundant machines. They have trained good human resources and have appropriate foreign-currency savings. In a year and a half it returns the entire investment's foreign currency; fifty million marks.

I visited the exhibition of ten other industrial units that are being inaugurated at the same time. At the gathering of Khorasan's industrialists, after the report of Mr. Nematzadeh, [Minister of Industries], I spoke. The industrialists spoke exaggeratedly about my historic service to the country's industry and expressed appreciation for my historic role in raising the level of industry.

I went to the holy shrine of Imam Reza (pbuh). I performed the ritual bath in the Dar al-Ziyafah and said my prayers. After dinner I went on the pilgrimage. Then I had a meeting with Mr. [Abbas Vaez] Tabasi. I promised a lot of assistance to the shrine's development projects and also 300 million tomans for the steel needed for the reconstruction of the earthquake-stricken schools of Qaen and Birjand, which the Astan Quds is rebuilding. With the warm farewell of the people in the Imam's courtyard and the farewell of Mr. Tabasi at the airport, we flew toward Tehran. At two in the morning we reached home and I fell asleep with extreme exhaustion.