Introduction To get familiar with BIPC we roamed in the perimeter and listed to explanations provided by Mr. Shiri's colleague, Mr. Rastegar. First, he explained about the geographical location and historical background of the complex before talking about reconstruction of units and management structure of the complex. Geographical situation BIPC is located over about 270 hectares to the northwest of the Persian Gulf in Khuzestan province, 160 km southeast of Ahvaz and 8 km east of Abadan in the vicinity of Imam Khomeini Port. Easy access to feed, fuel and raw materials; taking advantage to road, railroad, marine transport and airport; existence of enough water; helping development of Khuzestan province and creating added value as well as preventing burning of the associated gas were major features that justified constructing the complex in its current location. The feed and raw materials needed by the complex are supplied as follows: - 3.2 million tons gas liquids per year from Ahvaz and Maroun oil fields; - 120 million cu. ft. gas fuel per day supplied through cross-country network; - 400,000 tons salt per year produced from sea water; - 1 million tons naphtha per year, supplied by Abadan refinery; - 7,800 tons styrene monomer per year supplied by Tabriz Petrochemical Complex or through imports; - 100,000 cu. m. per day fresh water from Karoun River; - 1 million cu. m. per day sea water from the Persian Gulf to cool installations; - 183,000 tons methanol per year supplied by Kharg Petrochemical Company; - 71,000 tons mixture of xylene per annum, supplied through imports. Background A partnership contract was signed between the NATIONAL PETROCHEMICAL Company and five Japanese firms represented by Mitsubishi Corporation in May 1973, which was recognized as Iran-Japan Petrochemical Company (IJPC). The goal of the company was production, storage, transport and marketing as well as exporting olefins, poly-olefins, aromatics and other petrochemical products. The partnership had been divided on equal share and the contract was valid for 30 years after conclusion. Nationality of the company had been recognized as Iranian. Project developments Preliminary steps of the project including leveling ground, propping, construction of temporary buildings, establishment of water, electricity and docks started since the beginning of 1974. Construction of the main units started in 1976 and stopped in March 1979 after victory of the Islamic Revolution while 73 percent of it had been constructed. In 1979, measures were taken to reactivate the complex, but with the inception of the imposed war in October 1980, when Japanese contractors left Iran, construction operations came to an standstill. When ceasefire was announced, National Petrochemical Company started negotiations with Japanese partners and after 7 rounds of negotiations, the Japanese partner gave up the plan on the pretext that it was not economical. The separation contract was signed in October 1989 and all the shares of the complex were transferred to the National Petrochemical Company and IJPC was renamed Bandar Imam Petrochemical Complex. Reconstruction and completion of units To asses the situation of the complex after 20 bouts of bombardments and about 11 years of standstill, a comprehensive study was carried out and the result showed that the complex was damaged 22 percent. Following the study, a plan for reconstructing the complex was made ready in November 1989 attesting to economic justification of the complex's reconstruction from technical and economic viewpoints. The National Petrochemical Company joined hands with creditable European firms as well as domestic experts and contractors and the complex was reconstructed during five years and in four stages. The last unit; that is, the aromatic unit has a capacity of one million tons per year and was exclusively made operational by Iranian experts and contractors without any foreign entity playing a role. When the unit went on-stream, reconstruction of the huge complex was completed and currently paraxylene and MTBE projects are underway as part of development projects of the complex. Managerial structure of BIPC To decentralize management and take better advantage of available facilities to boost productivity, a plan for dividing management of the company among several independent subsidiaries was launched and they were officially inaugurated in 2000. The independent subsidiary companies include: - Faravaresh Petrochemical Company which includes such units as gas liquids separation, olefin, aromatic, paraxylene and joint installations; - Besparan Petrochemical Company including heavy polyethylene, light polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, butadienne and artificial rubber units; - Kimia Petrochemical Company comprising a salt lake and salt recycling, alkaline chlorine, ethylene di-chloride, vinyl chloride and MTBE; - Ab Nirou Company including water, electricity, steam, air and nitrogen units; and - Kharazmi Petrochemical Company including project management, repair management and service management units. Fruit of one-year efforts The management of Kharazmi Company started efforts since one year ago to provide social and welfare, travel and transportation, as well as housing services to obtain ISO 9000 certificate version 2000, and it obtained the certificate when this report was being drawn up. The development followed meeting prerequisites for obtaining ISO 9001 such as: - Providing public and specialistic welfare services for 10,000 people inside and outside the complex; - Transporting 2,600 colleagues working during day hours, 1,000 colleagues working in 8-hour shifts and 200 employees working in 12-hour shifts; - Providing welfare services to families in Mahshahr, Abadan and Chamran township (nearly 4,000 people); - Accurate planning for taking advantage of buses, minibuses, taxis, Pajeros and automobile belonging to contractors for transporting employees; - Providing flight services for 1,200 people for Tehran, 230 people for Shiraz and 120 people for Mashhad per month; - Holding the first exhibition on nutrition and promoting use of vegetable ghee; - And finally, providing encouragement programs for excellent children of employees in terms of educational record. After talking to Keyhan Mo'ayedi, secretary of productivity and participation system committee as well as Mehran Doj, the managing director of Kimia Petrochemical Company, we met director of public relations department of Kharazmi Petrochemical Company, Hossein Latifi. He is a graduate of applied mathematics from Chamran University of Ahvaz. He was employed by the National Petrochemical Company in 1983 and started to work at Farabi Petrochemical Company. Latifi moved to Bandar Imam Petrochemical Complex in 1996 and assumed responsibility for public services of Kharazmi Company in 200. "Bandar Imam Petrochemical Complex enjoys good conditions in terms of housing and welfare facilities. Some 2,600 housing units have been built in Bethat and Shahid Chamran townships as well as Mahshahr to accommodate the personnel and attract specialized manpower. There are suitable welfare facilities including cinema, restaurant, shopping mall, nursery school, cultural-sports complex, educational center, hospital, mosque as well as a big hotel with 450 rooms," he said. Latifi stated that the housing units accommodated about 16,000 people including employees of Bandar Imam Petrochemical Complex and their families. "The families can take advantage of language, computer, embroidery, music, painting, and fitness classes as well as sports hall for 2,000 people, swimming pull, sonna, jaccuzi, library, theater and various educational classes. There are 84 teams in 25 sports fields in the region," he noted. The director of public services of Bandar Imam Petrochemical Complex says his big concerns are transport of the employees and their families as well as providing food for them. "Each day 10,000 courses warm food are cooked and distributed among the employees who are carried to their destinations after the shifts are finished on board 80 buses. Employees' problems Depicted its vast service facilities, Bandar Imam Petrochemical Complex, is not capable of solving all problems facing the employees and their families, which are exacerbated by the fact that most employees are not aboriginal and have immigrated from big cities. The most important of those problems is educational status of children of employees with the other one being lack of public places. There are only two cinemas in Bandar Imam. As a compensation shopping plans for families from Deilam port have been considered. On the other hand, relations between families is limited due to various vocational reasons and most of them pass the time inside their homes. In addition, due to lack of cultural and social infrastructures in the region, the way is not paved for interaction of the immigrant and indigenous populations and they live basically apart. Health Services, a forte Satisfactory services produced in service and residential complexes of Bandar imam petrochemical, complex is a strong point. The National Petrochemical Company has established an advanced hospital which is run by Health and Treatment Organization of the Oil Ministry. Most employees and their families were quite satisfied with services provided by the hospital and opined that it had obviated the need for dispatching patients to other cities. (Mashal, Newsletter of Oil Ministry, Dec 2003)