Head of an Iranian consultant engineering company who claims to be officially in charge of the executive affairs of the said project, Mohammadreza Sabzalipour, in an open letter addressed to Esfahbodi has strongly objected to the decision.

In the letter, a copy of which was received by IRNA, Sabzalipour has referred to the background of the Iran's WTC.

"The initial move for the establishment of Iran's WTC was made ten years ago by depositing one million U.S. dollars into the account of the International WTC's Union in New York, when Iran was accepted as member of the said union," says the letter.

During the past decade, besides the Iranian investors in the project, there has been only one foreign investor that has guaranteed to put in $200 million for the purpose, announcing its readiness for carrying out the job, according to Sabzalipour.

Introducing the French investor at the Iranian WTC project as the deputy chairman of the International WTC's Union, the letter emphasizes that the said union has not issued any new permits for the establishment of a WTC in Iran by any company other than that of Sabzalipour's before the New York WTC blast.

Criticizing Esfahbodi's recent comments on the matter, Sabzalipour has questioned the method of offering the job to the French contractor, keeping in mind that there is still debates over the issue at the government and the related ministries and organizations.

"Construction of the building for Iran's World Trade center needs both the permission of the Iranian government and the confirmation of the International WTCs Union," says the letter, stressing that lacking either one means the halting of the project sooner or later.

Estimating the total cost of the project at 120 billion rials Sabzalipour has mentioned that the Iranian Commerce Ministry once intended to undertake the task, but it did not succeed to earmark the required finances for the project.

Sabzalipour who considers himself as the head of the only licensed engineering firm from the International WTC Union, has argued that keeping in mind the Iranian government's general policy is creation of more jobs by the private sector, it is surprising that the government is going to directly invest jointly with a French company in it, when there are at least a few Iranian contractors capable of undertaking the enterprise.

At a press conference Saturday, the head of Iran's International Fairs Organization said that a French company was to construct Iran's WTC in conjunction with an Iranian contractor on behalf of Iran's Commerce Ministry.