Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – March 9, 1995

At seven-thirty in the morning we reached Mehrabad Airport and immediately flew toward Birjand. Mehdi and Yaser and Hossein Marashi and Mr. Nematzadeh and several members of parliament were also accompanying. The plane carrying the journalists, which had flown before us, returned to Tehran because its wheels had not retracted after takeoff, and they arrived later with another plane.

On the way, Mr. Nematzadeh, the Minister of Industries, gave explanations about the cement projects under construction and pointed to the complete project with a capacity of 12 million tons of cement, with a foreign currency requirement of nearly one billion dollars and a rial cost of one hundred and twenty-five billion tomans, all of which will reach production by the first half of 1997, and the country's total cement production will exceed thirty million tons and we will reach exports.

Mr. Seyyed Mohammad Hossein Zeynali, the representative of Birjand, gave explanations about the tire factory under construction in Birjand. They have a shortage of rials and sought assistance. At Birjand Airport, a large number of the officials of Khorasan Province and the county and the clerics and the people had come to welcome. I passed in front of the row of welcomers and responded to their feelings.

We immediately went by car toward the Khash cement factory. Two helicopters were also flying above our heads on both sides of the road. Mr. Esmail Mofidi, the governor of Khorasan, gave explanations in the car. The road is very good and empty, but it mainly passes through the desert. There are few settlements along the route.

The province's situation and the market's prosperity are good due to the abundant purchases of Turkmen travelers and the export of consumer goods to the Central Asian countries and Afghanistan, and the very good growth of consumer industries, especially food products, whose exhibition is currently being held in Khorasan, and the border transactions with Afghanistan, most of whose needs in the western provinces of Afghanistan are supplied from Iran, many of them with subsidies.

We passed through the village of Sadeh. The people had gathered on both sides of the road to welcome. I got out and passed among the people. They expressed their affection with much sacrifice and with sweets and scattering flowers and burning esfand.

At ten we reached the cement factory twelve kilometers from Khash. After passing in front of the row of welcomers who were from the factory and county officials, we listened to the briefing explanations of Engineer Shiroudi in the control hall. The factory has been built with forty million dollars and fifty billion rials and has a production capacity of two thousand tons of cement per day. It has 380 personnel and the most modern technology and, to a significant extent, domestic construction. The journalists arrived. Then we visited the various sections of the factory, including the crusher, the raw material warehouse, the conveyor belts, the mixing silos, the large mill, the preheater cyclones, the huge cement kiln, and the kiln burner, with a temperature of one thousand five hundred degrees.

This heat, after leaving the kiln, is about 850 degrees Celsius, and most of it is spent on preheating the cyclones, which is a great saving in energy consumption that did not exist in old factories. Then we saw the cement warehouses and clinker storage and the cement mill, after the clinker, with mixing with gypsum, and finally the bulk and bag loading into trucks; overall it is interesting and important, and fortunately the country has reached the power of design and construction.

After prayer, lunch, rest, and listening to the radio news, I participated in a radio and television interview. Then the unveiling of the inauguration plaque was carried out and we went to the gathering of the employees and officials of the city of Qaen. After the programs of the anthem of the daughters of the martyrs and the performance of local music and the report and welcome of the governor about the county's progress in the First Plan and after the revolution, and the report of the Minister of Industries about the performance of the cement industries and new projects, I gave a speech about the importance of the cement industries and the government's plans and the successes.

From there, to visit the Kooh-e Kavir tire factory under construction, we headed toward Birjand. Contrary to the agreement, they took us through the city streets. The people had gathered along the route and welcomed warmly; we were not supposed to pass through the city. We visited the tire factory by car; it is very extensive and huge. Most of the machinery has been imported and appears to be installed. They have a shortage of credit to buy the rest of the equipment. It was arranged that the Minister of Industries would provide the shortages and they would become partners. At the airport, they gave a warm send-off and sang an anthem for the farewell. At seven-thirty at night we reached Tehran.