But the Fars news agency says there are 700 laborers working on the project, of whom 600 are Chinese and 100 Iranian. The highway project, which involves a large number of tunnels, has fallen years behind schedule and Iran finally signed over the contract to a Chinese firm a few years ago. Chinese construction firms generally like to bring in their own laborers. The highway project was started in the late 1970s and canceled right after the revolution by the new government, which said it was one of the Shah’s wasteful “prestige projects” that would only benefit wealthy Tehranis who wanted to be able to make it to Caspian resorts speedily.
