Tehran will no longer be the capital; and this is a good thing.

The idea to move Iran's capital from Tehran is not new. Teran is the largest city oft the Middle East, with a day-time population of over 12 million, ranks 16th on the list of the most crowded cities of the world. Tehran has an archaeological history that dates back to 6000 BC; but most of its fame and fortune comes as the Qajar monarch, the brutal Agha Mohammad Khan-e Ghajar, declared it capital in 1795. At that time, Tehran was just a village, but on the skirt of beautiful mountains, with one of the most heavenly waters of earth. (On wikipedia, you can get an overview of the city, old and new.) To the epicureans that Quajars were, Tehran served plenty of pleasure.

In one of the latest meetings of the expediency council (headed by Hashemi Rafsanjani), the 20-years long plan to move Iran's capital from Tehran was put on track. The summary of the issues discussed and resolutions passing through the Expediency Council's is as follows (Persian here): (please note that no where on their web site could I find and EXPLICIT news about the Tehran-move. If you see it, please hint to me).

1. Choosing suitable locations for balanced distribution of residential and business quarters in a manner consistent with economic, social, political, cultural, security and defense considerations.
2. National and provincial developmental undertakings in border regions, via economic incentives; strengthening the infrastructure, suitable population distribution and strengthening the security and defense forces with regards to threats. [don't say from whom!]
3. Reorganization of service industries, and population distribution with considerations for management of natural disasters, accidents, water resources and respecting the geological conditions, in order to increase the safety index of vital and essential infrastructure in population centers, cities and villages.
4. strengthening cooperation, national unity and social bonds by increasing the level of development (towse'eh) across the country by creating poles and centers for development(towse'eh).
5. Transferring the political centers of the city to suitable locations to improve and correct the population distribution across the country to the end of projection [doesn't say WHICH projection!]
6. Balanced development of villages and small towns to prevent uncontrolled migration to provincial capitals.

ُThis, translated to "human" language, means:

• Tehran is built on a disaster time bomb (many new housing developments have taken place on ticking fault lines; against the unequivocal objection of Iranian geologists and urban planners--corruption and violation of expert regulations are so grave that top notch urban planners are quitting their profession in disgust and depression--not to forget Kian Tajbakhsh, the Iranian American urban planner who has received a 12 year prison sentence!!).
• Tehran is a political time bomb, with its various universities and high concentration of cultural and educational institutes posing a great threat to the adjacently located IRI's administration (Literally! Iran's important ministries are situated side by side Tehran's most vocal and political universities: e.g. Oil ministry shares the neighborhood with Tehran Poly Technique (Amir Kabir) and State ministry with Tehran University).

It is estimated (professionally and since 20 years ago) that moving the political and administrative centers from Tehran will at least help a daily reduction of one million people. It will also put a distance between the financial and political districts, that will hopefully reduce corruption. And on the brightest side, it will help Tehran's notorious pollution and hopefully prevent the environmental disasters following massive housing projects (undertaken by Mr Ahmadinejad) with no regards for the designated green zones (or even the historical sites).

I am all for moving the capital from Tehran; who wants to live near corrupt or boring bureaucrats? However, in Iran the government has its hands in EVERY single detail of private, public, economic, and social life (a dependency to which the Iranian people are well accustomed--thanks to dependency on oil-revenues). Therefore, whatever location the capital is going to be, it will need proper communication and transportation infrastructure that will make the the intricate individual/governmental interactions efficient. Let's hope that this will indeed meet the projections of the experts to generate 600,000 new jobs over the next five years; slow down the wave of migration to Tehran; scale down the magnitude of the disaster in waiting, and improve the suffocating smog and traffic problems.

I will be watching with interest where this leads to.