Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 16
By Temkin Jafarov - Trend:
Some 50 members of the Iranian parliament requested to discuss the issue of moving political capital from Tehran as a priority issue, member of the judicial commission of the Iranian parliament, Abolfazl Abuturabi said, Fars news agency reported on Nov. 16.
Abuturabi noted that in case if the project, under discussion, is approved, the working group of 14 people led by the Iranian president will comprehensively address the issue of moving the capital and a year later they will present the study results to the parliament.
It should be noted that there have earlier been proposals for moving the capital given the rapid growth of the population of Tehran and the city's location in a seismically active zone. According to official statistics, currently 12-13 million people reside in Tehran.
During Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency a project was initiated to move 200,000 civil servants from Tehran but it was never completed.
Earlier, Iranian media outlets spread information about moving the capital to the city of Tabriz. But at present there is no any exact information about the place where the new capital will be moved.
Earthquakes often occur in Iran. A major earthquake occurred in December 2003 in the city of Bam, located in the southeast of the Kerman province. The earthquake killed 31,000 people and destroyed an ancient tower.
The most devastating earthquake in the country occurred in June 1990. Its strength was 7.7 on the Richter scale. It killed 37,000 people in the provinces of Gilan and Zanjan and more than 100,000 people were affected.