President: Five million should be transferred from Tehran province

TEHRAN, Nov. 8 (MNA) --President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said five million inhabitants of Tehran Province - three million from the city of Tehran - should be transferred to other provinces.

This is the only way to solve numerous problems facing Tehran’s residents, Ahmadinejad told a group of executive managers of Tehran Province on Sunday.

Tehran Province homes about 12,300,000 people of whom 8,000,000 live in Tehran city and that means wasting time, getting nervous, getting stuck in traffic jam, suffering from air pollution and living in cramped apartment buildings, he stated.

Population, traffic, water shortage and living expenses are other problems, he added.

He also pointed to the potential threat of earthquakes, saying Tehran sits on several fault lines and it is seriously threatened by earthquakes.

“We cannot order people to evacuate the city... but provisions have to be made. At least five million should leave Tehran so it would be less crowded and more manageable in case of an incident.”

“We cannot predict when an earthquake will happen. But if anything happens to Tehran province’s… how can we manage that?” he asked.

The government could offer land, loans at four percent interest rate and substantial subsidies in other provinces to encourage Tehran residents to leave the sprawling capital, he noted.

Ahmadinejad also called on the managers of Tehran to make preparations for teleworking of 40 percent of their employees by the end of the Iranian calendar year (which starts on March 21).

He said a managerial reform should be made in the executive body of the country.