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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Iran
Index
As part of Reza Shah's development plan, modernization of the
transportation and telecommunications sectors began in the 1930s
and received huge infusions of capital investment from the
mid-1960s onward under Mohammad Reza Shah's regime. In May 1979,
Mehdi Bazargan's government created an organization called the
Crusade for Reconstruction (Jihad-e Sazandegi or Jihad), which
focused on rural reconstruction. In 1982 the organization claimed
to have built 12,872 kilometers of roads, or nearly 1 kilometer per
village.
Transportation
Figure 8. Transportation System, 1987
The rugged terrain and sheer size of Iran made the expansion of
transportation facilities difficult. Emphasis was placed on linking
the major population centers and economic centers by rail and road;
superimposed on a map, such main arteries would form a "T," with
the crossbar extending from the northwestern corner to the
northeast along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. The vertical
line would run through Tehran down to the Gulf
(see
fig. 8).
In 1925 Iran had only 3,218 kilometers of railroad--much of it
in disrepair, but in 1931 a railroad was built to link the two
bodies of water on Iran's northern and southern borders, the port
of Bandar-e Shah (known as Bandar-e Torkaman after the Revolution
of 1979) on the Caspian Sea near Gorgan was linked by rail to the
port of Bandar-e Shahpur (known as Bandar-e Khomeini after the 1979
Revolution) on the southwestern coast, passing through Tehran, and
in 1941 the northern regions of Iran were connected by rail from
west to east (from Tabriz to Mashhad). This was accomplished with
the aid of foreign technicians and engineers. The railroad had
expanded southeast from Tabriz to Kerman by 1977, and roads and air
travel linked many parts of the country. Roads in good condition in
1941 totaled 22,526 kilometers; by 1984 there were 51,389
kilometers of paved roads. These roads, built primarily for
military use, had the effect of stimulating development.
The leg of the "T" from Tehran to the Gulf was the most
intensively used transportation corridor, accounting for half of
all road traffic and two-thirds of all rail traffic by 1978.
Domestic and foreign trade from the Gulf traversed this portion of
road. Key ports were connected to each other and to Tehran through
the "T" network. Foreign trade came through the Gulf ports of
Khorramshahr, Bandar-e Shahpur, Bushehr, and Bandar-e Abbas.
Khorramshahr handled trade primarily for the private sector, and
Bandar-e Shahpur handled imports for the governments. Other foreign
trade traversed the northwestern part of Iran. This area was
connected by road and railroad with Turkey and the Soviet Union and
with two minor ports on the Caspian Sea.
The transportation system became incapable of meeting trade
demands during the oil boom of the mid-1970s. Neither the ports nor
the transportation infrastructure leading from the ports could
handle the volume of goods. As a consequence, long lines of ships
formed, some waiting months to unload and adding more than US$1
billion a year to freight costs. Perishable goods spoiled, and
delayed deliveries of durable goods disrupted production and
construction schedules. Consequently, the government gave the
expansion of port and transportation facilities high priority. By
1976 the 6 major ports of Bandar-e Abbas, Bandar-e Shahpur, Chah
Bahar (known as Bandar-e Beheshti after the 1979 Revolution),
Bushehr, Abadan, and Khorramshahr had a capacity of 12 million
tons, with expansion projects underway. By late 1977, unloading
delays were no longer a problem. As a result of war damage, the
ports of Abadan and Khorramshahr were closed in 1980, leaving the
other four main ports and twelve minor ports in operation.
The construction of fourteen jetties along the Gulf coast was
planned in 1986; one of these, at Jask near the Strait of Hormuz,
opened in February 1986. Built at a cost of approximately US$20
million, it included a covered warehouse, a passenger terminal
building, and a 130- meter-long jetty for the use of small ships up
to 2,000 tons. Especially after the Revolution, the government
expanded roads as well as port facilities. The total length of
roads in 1974 was about 50,000 kilometers, of which 14 percent was
hard-surfaced. A major post-1979 increase in road construction
helped boost total road length in 1984 to 136,381 kilometers, of
which 41 percent was paved. Main or national roads comprised 16,551
kilometers and secondary roads 34,838 kilometers of this total.
Post-Revolution maintenance of roads and railroads suffered, as
did road access to the ports. The State Railways Organization
extended Iran's 4,567 kilometers of railroad track by the
completion in 1987 of approximately 130 kilometers of electrified
track in the north between Tabriz and Jolfa for imports from the
Soviet Union. An additional 1,300 kilometers were scheduled to be
added to the network by 1989, although war conditions made it
unlikely that this goal would be realized. Other legs were planned
between Mashhad in the northeast and the Soviet border at Sarakhs
and in the north from Gorgan to Gonbad. A joint economic agreement
between Iran and the Soviet Union in August 1987 reportedly called
for a railroad route for the export of Soviet goods through Iran to
the Gulf. A 560-kilometer extension to the World War II- era
railroad linking Iran to Pakistan via Zahedan in southeastern Iran
was completed in 1987 to join Zahedan to Kerman and thence to
Tehran.
Iran's two principal international airports were located in
Tehran (Mehrabad Airport) and Abadan. A new international airport
in Esfahan began operations in 1986, and another airport forty
kilometers south of Tehran was under construction in 1987. In
addition, an international airport was scheduled to be built at
Gorgan, east of the Caspian Sea. In developments affecting smaller,
national airports, the runway at Kerman was extended in FY 1986.
Plans in 1987 called for the airports at Ardabil, Iranshahr,
Mashhad, Sari, and Zabol to be lengthened and widened to
accommodate larger airplanes and for a new runway to be built at
Zahedan.
Data as of December 1987
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