The Shah and Shahbanou inaugurate the
steel industry complex of Isfahan
ذوب آهن اصفهان
گشايش ذوب آهن در ايران 1346- 1967
آغاز بهره برداری ذوب آهن در ايران 1350-1971
برافراشته باد پرچم شیروخورشید نشان
The
establishment of an iron and steel plant had been in the mind of Iranians since the early
decade of the 20th century. The first attempt was made in the late 1930s
during the reign of H.I.M.Reza Shah Pahlavi with the assistance of German companies, since no other country would help at the time.
But the outbreak of World War II brought the construction works to a
standstill and the project was never completed. Almost two decades after World War II due to speedy recovery in
the economic
situation during the reign of my husband, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and an increasing demand
for steel products, the creation of a steel complex was brought up again. The
Steel Mill was the first direct investment the government made in the steel
industry, and it represented many decades of effort and disillusion. An
inter-governmental contract was concluded between the governments of Iran and
the USSR to transfer the natural gas from Iran to the Soviet Union in exchange
for heavy industry, a huge steel making complex with annual capacity of 550,000
tons in Isfahan was included.
For this purpose, the National Iranian Steel Corporation (NISCO) was
established for construction of the plant and mobilization of the relevant mines
such as iron ore, coking coal, limestone, refractory , etc. The plant was
successfully commissioned and came into operation in 1971. Subsequently,
a contract for expansion of the Isfahan Steel Plant to a capacity of 1.9 million
tons/year of structural steel was signed with the USSR. Against much opposition,
we were finally able to introduce steel manufacturing into Iran. In many ways
this can be seen as a turning point because only after production began were we
taken more seriously in international fora.
See above pictures of the inauguration day!
A
VIDEO on the steel industry from Amir Khosrow Sheibany
See it
now in High
Definition
Courtesy Amir Khosrow Sheibany - December 2011
