TEHRAN, Sept. 27--Embattled Minister of Road and Transportation Ahmad Khorram said while the Intelligence Ministry is officially in charge of security at Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA), some officials from other organizations are interfering in this sensitive issue.
The minister, who is facing an impeachment motion in the Parliament, told ISNA the people are amazed to see inexpert comments coming from non-security officials in the campaign against handing over the management of IKIA to a foreign firm.
He stressed that all major international airlines have accepted that the IKIA is now ready for operation.
"I have no idea how would some Iranian officials who have no expertise in airport-related affairs say the IKIA is not yet ready for operation?" he asked, stressing that the Ministry of Roads and Transportation has managed to satisfy the security and executive bodies as well as the airlines.
He said the task of handling some nine million passengers annually is currently shouldered by Mehrabad International Airport, expressing hope that the credibility of the Islamic system would not be harmed further following the reopening of the IKIA.
The minister further said that once it goes into operation, the airport would bring in revenues of some 70-80 billion rials per month.
Earlier, the head of the Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) said the 'open sky' policy will help boost over-flight revenues from Imam Khomeini International Airport by some 25 percent.
Hassan Hajalifard told ISNA that airports in Tehran are responsible for handling some 75 percent of the country's air traffic.
"Some of the country's airports must offer open sky privileges to foreign aircraft to increase their over-flight revenues," he said, putting the country's over-flight revenues at an average of $100-120 million per annum.
Hajalifard said Iran has one of the highest number of no-fly zones in the world.
He said the critics of the BOT contract with a Turkish company for the completion of Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA) have not even bothered to study the terms of this contract, stressing that an erroneous impression has led to an all-out campaign for terminating the deal.
He said the BOT (build, operate, transfer) deal with the Turkish company TAV aimed chiefly at constructing Terminal II of the IKIA because Terminal I of the airport can only handle 6-6.5 million passengers per annum.

TEHRAN, Sept. 27--Phase I of the South Pars development project for the world's largest gas field has gone into full production, announced the managing director of Petropars oil and gas company here on Monday.
Gholamreza Manouchehri told Fars news agency that some one billion cubic feet of gas and 40,000 barrels of natural gas liquids are being produced in Phase I.
"The country has so far earned $150 million from export of gas liquids from Phase I," he said, stressing that Phase I has not yet been inaugurated officially.
"We have handed over the project to the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and it will announce the exact date of its inauguration," he added.
The implementation of the multi-phased project to develop the giant South Pars gas field, which holds nearly eight-percent of the global gas reserves, is a top priority on the country's development agenda.
The field extends across the Iranian (South Pars) and Qatari (North Field) sectors of the Persian Gulf, and Iran's share is being developed in 25 phases.
Production of phases six to eight is expected to be about 650 billion cubic meters of gas (equivalent to four billion barrels of oil) and some 700 million barrels of condensate (light oil).
Petropars is operator for land side of the development. Plans call for the first stage of the project to come on stream in late 2004, with the third and final phase due to start production by the summer of 2006.
The state-owned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will take over as production operator when development is complete.

TEHRAN, Sept. 27--A lawmaker said here on Monday that the parliament is seeking a logical policy to narrow the gap between the people's incomes and expenditure.
Iraj Nadimi, who is also a member of Majlis Economic Commission, told ILNA that the lawmakers do not intend to regulate the prices of goods. "People should not expect their deputies to go into the details of the pricing mechanism," he said, adding that it is impractical for the legislative branch to control the prices of all commodities.
He noted that while the responsibility of the Majlis is limited to approving the annual budget, it can also adopt appropriate policies to push the prices closer to reality.
He stated that in approving an economic policy, the parliament has to consider that the prices have to keep up with the intense competition in the domestic and international markets.
"If the lawmakers are unable to bring prices down, they can adopt strategies to support low-income families," he concluded.

TEHRAN, Sept. 27--A lawmaker said here on Monday the Oil Ministry earns some three billion dollars each year from export of oil products.
Elias Naderan, a member of the Majlis Energy Commission, told Fars news agency that as per Article 120 of the Third Development Plan (2000-2005), the Oil Ministry is allowed to export surplus oil products.
"Revenues from export of surplus oil derivatives are used mainly for import of gasoline and other products," he said, stressing that the Oil Ministry has not developed its petroleum refining systems due to huge financial support it receives from the government and the parliament.
The lawmaker further noted that petrol production in Iran is below international standards, adding that the Oil Ministry produces and exports less valuable products such as mazut.
"If the Oil Ministry manages to increase domestic gasoline production, the country will not need to import petrol and will also be able to export the product," he said.
He further noted that the Majlis Plan, Budget and Audit Commission is currently studying a proposal by the Oil Ministry to withdraw money from the Foreign Exchange Reserve Fund for gasoline imports. "The proposal has not yet been discussed at the Energy Commission," he added.

TEHRAN, Sept. 27--Almost daily changes in steel import tariffs would make it impossible to attain an annual production target of 30 million tons, a senior steel industry official said here on Monday, stressing that prevailing instabilities in steel import policies have discouraged investments in the sector.
Taqi Bahrami, head of the Steel Industries Association, told ILNA that claims about import tariffs coming down to zero as per World Trade Organization rules are sheer lies as the US has set a 30-percent import tariff on steel to safeguard domestic production.
"In Iran, laws are devised to weaken the private production sector," he said, stressing that production costs are too high in Iran.
He said, however, that the annual production capacity of private steel factories will reach three million tons by March.
Bahrami said earlier it is unlikely that the targets of the 20-Year Perspective for Economic and Social Development can be met given the refusal of the planners to seek the views of leading industrialists.
He told ILNA that some experts who had graduated from communist schools have formulated the 20-Year Perspective.
Noting that the high industrial waste in steel production in Iran, Bahrami pointed out that national industries lack a proper export pattern, which he said is why non-oil exports have remained low.
The private sector is projected to supply at least six million tons of steel annually out of Iran's 28.1 million-ton demand for the product by the end of the fourth plan in 2010. The state sector currently accounts for more than 90 percent of the domestic steel production.
Iran's unprocessed steel production reached 770,000 metric tons in June 2004 from 691,000 tons in May.
It produced 7.9 million metric tons of unprocessed steel in 2003, making it the largest producer in the region.
Iran's share in total unprocessed steel production in the world is one percent and is the 21st largest steel producer worldwide.

Iran's cement production will double in the next 15 years to reach 65 million tons per annum.

TEHRAN, Sept. 27--Minister of Industries and Mines Es'haq Jahangiri said the recent hikes in the international cement prices have discouraged the government from importing this product.
The minister told ISNA that the shortage of cement would be overcome with the onset of winter and the completion of several cement factories in the coming months.
He said the Ministry of Industries and Mines is trying to help domestic cement producers by transporting their output to regions which are facing a shortage.
The ministry has proposed that funds set aside for cement imports be spent on developing the national transportation system and cement industries.
Some 20 major cement projects are currently being implemented across the country.
Official statistics suggest that Iran's cement production will double in the next 15 years to reach 65 million tons per annum. At least two 3,500-ton-capacity cement units must be constructed each year to achieve this target.
Presently, the country produces 32 million tons of cement per annum. Cement units in Tehran account for 13 percent of the total national production.
Iran produces some 70 percent of the equipment used in the domestic cement industry. The country has to import 1.5 million tons of cement this year.
Imported cement is offered at prices 2.5 times higher than the Iran-made product.
Earlier, cement industry officials announced that the production capacity would increase by 19.5 percent to 70 million tons by the end of the fourth development plan (2005-2010).
The annual cement production capacity growth reached 7.1 percent during the Third Plan (2000-2005). Production capacity growth will average 15.2 percent by 2010.
Cement consumption is estimated at 33.5 million tons for this year.

TEHRAN, Sept. 27--Head of Management and Plan Organization (MPO) said here Sunday that Majlis interference in government operations is not in the national interest.
Hamid Reza Baradaran Shoraka told IRNA here Sunday that the legislative and executive branches should each tend to their own legal responsibilities.
Majlis should devise laws and the government should implement them. If there are shortcomings in the execution of the law, then the parliament has the right to intervene, and/or monitor its implementation using legal means at its disposal, the vice-president added.
He reiterated that involvement of the Majlis in operational details of investment projects is not in the country's interests.
Speaking before the scheduled vote on the bill by the MPs, he expressed hope that the Majlis will not be hasty in its decisions to ratify the double-urgency bill, the details of which were debated on Sunday, to oblige the government to obtain approval on foreign investment deals.
Any move towards economic insecurity will lower international and domestic investments in the economy, the official underlined.
The aim of attracting foreign investments is not only to finance projects, 'but, also to garner new technologies and gain a foothold in the world markets'.
He pointed to outflow of investments as a more important issue than the inflow of foreign capital. Creating a secure environment for investments will discourage the outflow of capital, Baradaran-Shoraka stated.

NIOC signed an agreement with Royal-Dutch Shell, Repsol and IPF companies to build two natural gas liquefaction units.

TEHRAN, Sept. 27--Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has said that signing agreements was a routine procedure in concluding contracts for the production and export of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
According to Petroenergy Information Network, the minister, who was talking about a recent agreement between the National Iranian Oil Company on the one hand and Royal-Dutch Shell, Repsol and IPF companies, on the other, pointed out that if another agreement was needed before concluding the contract, it would be signed with the said companies.
"After signing any agreement, the implementation usually takes about two years before it becomes a formal contract," he said.
The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) signed an agreement in principle with Royal-Dutch Shell, Repsol and IPF companies to build two natural gas liquefaction units and also to study and design Phase 13 South Pars gas field development project.
The study will take two years, after which a final decision will be made bout partnership between the two sides in building natural gas liquefaction plants as well as developing South Pars Phase 13 under a buyback deal.

Some 30 representative offices have so far been set up for marketing petrochemicals.

TEHRAN, Sept. 27--Iran exported over 2.7 million tons of petrochemical products, valued at $814 million, since the beginning of the current Iranian year (started March 20).
According to IRNA, the Persian-language daily Abrar-e Eqtesadi quoted the deputy head of National Petrochemical Company for foreign trade affairs Yousef Mosafer as saying that 22 percent of Iran's petrochemical products were exported to Japan.
He added that in addition to exporting petrochemical products to India, China, South Korea, Iran also supplied the Middle East, Europe and Africa this year.
The official noted that the value of Iran's petrochemicals export would reach $1.8 billion by March.
Mosafer listed chemicals, aromatics, polymers, gas liquids and raw materials for fertilizers as among the important products exported.
Pointing to the role of Iran's representatives abroad in promoting the export of petrochemical products, he said that 30 representative offices have so far been set up for marketing petrochemicals and this figure would be increased in light of the agreements reached in this respect.