Poverty and Pollution Plague Tehran

The capital of Iran, jammed with poor peasants hunting for jobs that aren’t there, has become a morass of poverty and pollution.

Its population has doubled to 8 million since the Islamic revolution of 1979, swollen by a birthrate of 3.5% a year and migration from the countryside. That is about one-seventh of the national population, 55 million.

“Tehran and other overpopulated cities have expanded so much that a remedy has to be found,” the daily newspaper Abrar declared. “The problems are so complex that it seems even the most skilled planners are at a loss to find a workable program.”

Beyond the 8 million officially counted, Tehran has a floating population estimated at 2 million, most of them in shantytowns on its southern edge. Those squalid slums were the bedrock of support for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who died a year ago.

In the park-studded northern suburbs, on the lower slopes of the Alborz Mountains overlooking the city, wealthy Iranians still live comfortably in their mansions and earn millions from real estate.

Housing is in short supply, power outages are frequent and there is no piped sewer system. Drug abuse is rife despite a nationwide crackdown.

Drinking water is becoming scarce and authorities speak of rationing. The official Islamic Republic News Agency said Tehran is “the most polluted city in the world.”

Tehran’s 1.5 million motor vehicles clog the streets in a single, vast traffic jam and the city is covered by choking smog.

It may take an hour to travel 5 miles in central Tehran. These days, newspapers call Tehran traffic “the national enemy” instead of Iraq, with which Iran was at war for eight years until August, 1988.

Resalat, another daily, said in May that city buses are stuck in traffic jams for so long they burn 22 gallons of gas on a 30-mile route. It estimated that Tehran residents spent 1.2 billion hours a year in traffic jams.

On some days, the state radio advises old people to stay indoors because of the polluted air and warns mothers not to take young children out.

Officials acknowledge that planning has become a nightmare. A subway project is stalled, although President Hashemi Rafsanjani ordered it speeded up.

The first 7-mile section, linking Mohseni Square to Imam Khomeini Square, was supposed to open in December. It didn’t.

“We’ve been hearing about this metro (subway) since we were kids,” a resident said. “Now we’re grown up and they’re still just talking about it.” A global survey published in May said Tehran was the world’s most expensive city in dollar terms.

The study by Corporate Resources Group of Geneva based its findings on prices of items ranging from food to leisure. If it had included housing costs, Tehran’s numbers would have been even higher.

A mid-town apartment of about 325 square feet costs 200,000 rials a month ($2,857 at the official rate of exchange) to rent, plus a security deposit of 5 million rials ($71,428), Resalat reported.

“A civil servant, with several years’ service, receives a monthly salary of 80,000 rials ($1,142). Assuming he manages to save 30,000 rials a month, he can save 360,000 rials a year,” the paper said. “He would have to work for a century to be able to afford to buy a suitable house.”

The price of eggs has doubled in a year and meat costs $27 a kilogram--2.2 pounds. Trousers that cost $100 a year ago now sell for $157. A Peykan sedan, based on the old British Hillman, costs $100,000.

Residents of Tehran say they can barely survive on average monthly pay of 70,000 rials, about $1,000 at the official rate.

“I have to have two jobs that bring in a total of 100,000 rials,” said Ali, a 42-year-old civil servant who moonlights as a taxi driver.

Every disaster area has its share of people who do well, and Tehran is no exception. Expensive restaurants are crowded and grocery stores selling at black market prices--10 times normal rates--are well-supplied with goods and customers.

In government-run stores, where ordinary housewives spend hours in line, the shelves are bare.