The restoration of Ghaemshahr Paper Mill's activities after 14 years of recession

Ghaemshahr Paper Industrial Co. could not help making 200 employees redundant due to economic problems, the recession and the worn out machinery, and its General Assembly approved to stop the production in 2003. Since then, the people in Ghaemshahr have been used to seeing the rusted lock on the factory closed gate.  

However, the healing instructions of the eleventh Cabinet to bring out the industrial enterprises from the economic recession caused Atieh Saba, one of the five holdings of the country's retirement fund, to invest in this respect in order to the its activities, and now that the projects are coming into operation in all parts of Mazandaran province, the restoration of this company's activities can be named as the headline of the projects there. 

Ghaemshahr Paper Making Industrial Company was registered and started its activity under the title of Harir in 1976. In 1982, the extraordinary General Assembly of the company approved to change its name into Ghaemshahr Paper Making Industrial Company, and its legal personality changed from special joint stock company to public joint stock company. 

Apart from manufacturing paper hygiene products such as all types of tissue, sanitary pads, and cellulose products, it was the first producing company of fluff pulp from cotton linter in the country. 

The Managing Director of Ghaemshahr Paper Making Industrial Company says that before the closure of the factory, the activities of this company had led Mazandaran to be the leading province of the country in cellulose industries and to keep this title or years.  

In an interview with IRNA on Monday, Mehdi Kameli added, "In 2003, due to financial problems, the lack of cash flow, the worn out machinery and the environmental issues, the activities of Ghaemshahr Paper Making Industrial Company were stopped by the approval of its General Assembly, and it eventually was expelled from the Stock Exchange in 2006.

Kameli, who attributes the effort to revive and restore the company's activity and production to the 11th Cabinet of the government, continued, "Transferring the factory located in the urban area of Ghaemshahr to Sangab Industrial Park of Simorgh city was placed on the agenda because of the environmental problems caused by the outflow of water and wastewater of pulp production. 

He said, "According to the approval of Atieh Saba Investing Co. and the Countries retirement Fund on changing the application of the factory land to have surplus value, the company put the change of the factory land application and the transfer of the factory to industrial park  on its agenda in 2011."

Pointing to the agreement made between the company with Ghaemshahr's governor, municipality, and the Islamic city council on the transfer of the factory and the relevant permission of Mazandaran Industrial Organization in 2013, the CEO of Ghaemshahr Paper Making Industrial Company said, "The construction of the factory began by purchasing a piece of land with an area surface of over 5 hectares in the industrial park of Sangab."

He said, "While the constructions of factory and its workshops were being made, we purchased the machinery from the domestic, Turkish, and Chinese suppliers."

*** 70 billion Rials of investment for the phase 1 of the plant

Anouncing that the implementation process of restoring Ghaemshahr Paper Making Industrial Company has numerous phases, Kameli added, "Tomorrow on the 6th day of the Cabinet Week, the phase 1 of plant will be officially operational with an investment of  70 billion Rials in the presence of Technology Vice President, The CEO of Atieh Saba Co., and the senior authorities of the province."

Announcing that 140 people will be directly and indirectly involved in activities of this phase, he said, "At present, the factory with one shift of work is capable of producing 10 tons of various health products."

Ghaemshahr Paper Making Industrial Company has 50 types of products including different types of paper tissues, tablecloth, and disposable paper cups and tableware.

He announced, "It is anticipated that 215 billion Rials of investment is required to implement all stages of restoring Ghaemshahr Paper Making Industrial Company which will provide additional employment and production with the implementation of other phases." 

The official ceremony of commissioning the phase 1 of Ghaemshahr Paper Making Industrial Company will be held on Tuesday with the presence of the Science and Technology Vice President at the company's site in Sangab Industrial Park."