Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – October 22, 1996

I woke up early in the morning. I got the news. The province's broadcasting organization is publishing the news of the trip very well, and most of the radio programs are about the trip and broadcast the people's statements, which is a very interesting collection, with poetry and anthems and aphorisms and friendly and praising remarks of various segments of the people. It is almost like this on all trips, and if we collect them all, it is a unique historical collection and a collection of the people's thoughts and views and literature. Each trip would make a thick volume of a book.

We went to the city's barracks, which is the place where the helicopters land, and flew toward the Moghan Plain. On the way, I received good explanations from [Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad], the Governor-General. At the Moghan Agro-Industry, we inaugurated the factory for the production of industrial milk powder and butter and cream. Before the Revolution, the machines had been imported, and because of the scarcity of milk, they had not been started until now. It has a capacity of 180 tons of milk in three shifts. At a ceremony we heard the explanations of Engineer [Ali-Asghar] Khamenei, the managing director of the [Moghan Agro-Industry] Company. The company's problems have been solved and it has become profitable; it is a very large and unparalleled unit. I too gave an encouraging speech.

We visited the dairy farms and inaugurated the fifth unit with a thousand head. We went to the sugar beet fields. In the past the sugar content of the beets was low—9 percent—and with research and the help of an Iranian engineer who is in America, they have raised the content to 15 percent, and by improving the seed, they have raised the harvest per area to 90 tons per hectare. I thanked the engineer and, getting on the tractor, began gathering the beets and drove for a while; it was interesting for those present.

Beside the agro-industry, we went to a nomadic center. It is a large program that Construction Jihad is implementing for settling the nomads and many families in an area of 14 thousand hectares, by transferring water from the Moghan seasonal river canal. The construction of three settlements and several other projects was also inaugurated at the same ceremony, including the water supply to 42 villages and the roads of several villages and the granting of pasture deeds to the pasture owners and the research and service exhibitions of Construction Jihad and the showing of two-humped camels. [Mr. Gholam-Reza Forouzash], the Minister of Construction Jihad, spoke. I too gave an encouraging speech for the nomads and villages and explained the policies of deprivation removal and social justice. Their gatherings were very large and enthusiastic.

We flew to the site of the Gi Beyglu Dam in the northeast of Meshkin Shahr. We heard the explanations of Messrs. Zanganeh and Kiafar. It is an important dam, on the Qarah Su River, with a regulation capacity of 120 million cubic meters of water, and also explanations about the plan to use geothermal energy on the slopes of Mount Sabalan with a program to produce 100 megawatts of electricity from the heat of the hot water. I gave a detailed speech about both projects. I asked that the irrigation be with a pressurized regime so that we irrigate all the rain-fed lands. We named the dam Sabalan, and the ceremony was held with an explosion. The work had started a while ago, and the ceremonies for the drinking water projects of Meshkin Shahr and the water of Parsabad were also held at the same place.

We flew toward the Yamchi Dam in the southwest of Ardabil. We heard the explanations of the consulting engineer. He is a war veteran whose leg was amputated in the war. That day he was a conscript officer. It is an important dam with a capacity of one hundred million cubic meters on the Balighli Chai River.

We returned to the city. At the barracks, the soldiers and officers and non-commissioned officers gave a warm welcome in orderly ranks. I expressed affection to them. I had lunch with Mohsen in the room of the residence and rested a little. They gave me a penicillin injection because of the cold symptoms.

Then we went to the residential and service complex for the war-disabled, which is a good work, for about 300 war-disabled. A long line of war-disabled in wheelchairs gave a warm welcome and spoke of the body-building and treatment matters and the equipped plans for housing beside the beautiful Shurabil Lake, for five provinces. Mr. [Mohsen] Rafiq-Doust, [Head of the Foundation of the Disabled and War-Disabled], gave explanations. Then we drove around the lake by car. They have made a beautiful recreation complex. Gradually they are sweetening the salt water, and now rainbow trout are also being produced.

Then we went to the Artavil tire factory in the west of Ardabil. On the way the villagers gave a warm welcome. It is a huge factory, with a capacity of 30 thousand tons that they want to raise to 50 thousand tons; it belongs to the private sector and is modern, and part of it is radial. We heard explanations and visited the production line. At the gathering of those present, after the report of the Minister of Industries on the country's tire industry, I spoke about the importance of the tire industry and this factory and expressed appreciation for the project's managers.

In the afternoon the province's administrative council also had a meeting, with the report of the Governor-General and one of the province's representatives and my speech about the existing conditions and the province's future and an explanation of the country's good economic situation. At night I took part in the gathering of the educators and university community and poets of the province. The meeting had a spirit. An anthem was performed describing the government's work and the President. A poet named Abedian had also composed a fine poem about me and recited it. There was a tawashih and Quran program and then the eulogy of Mr. [Salim] Moazzenzadeh Ardabili, who has a warm voice, and the report of [Mr. Reza Mostaqim], the president of Ardabil University, and [Mr. Houshyar], the Director-General of Education, and finally my detailed speeches about the country's cultural and scientific situation in the province took place.

We went to the airport. At the pavilion there was a ceremony for the inauguration of several projects. The airport lighting for night flights and the lighting of the bends of the Hiran Pass and also the commissioning of several points of the road, with the report of the province's Director-General of Roads and Mr. [Ali] Shahcheraghi, [Head of the Civil Aviation Organization], and my speeches. At nine-thirty at night we flew toward Tehran. We had dinner on the way. The province's parliament representatives were grateful for the trip. In principle, the people of Ardabil Province, because they consider me the founder of

[the formation of] the province and they repeated this slogan everywhere, express satisfaction and gratitude.