The 29th edition of the annual Tehran International Book Fair (TIBF), slated for May 5-15, will be held in Sun City, located in southwest Tehran.
After several months of debates on relocation of event venue, officials seem to have reached a consensus, Mehr News Agency reported.
Tehran Book Garden was an alternative choice for the TIBF this year. Located in the Abbasabad Hills in central Tehran, it has more than 54,000 sq. meters of superstructure. But officials opted for Sun City, it being more appropriate to host the event.
Sun City has over 120,000 sq m of exhibition space. The first phase covering 65,000 sq m is ready to begin operations and its inauguration will coincide with the opening of the annual book fair.
The new venue in 138 hectares is the second biggest exhibition center in Asia and third in the world after similar places in Germany and China.
Since 2001, the project was the focus of contention between urban managers and a decision by the Tehran City Council in 2004 pinned the responsibility on the Tehran Municipality to develop the new location. The project was launched in January 2007.
Located on the Tehran-Qom Highway, near Imam Khomeini International Airport, Sun City is to be linked by a subway to facilitate commutation. The other part of the venue will have 4 and 5-star hotels, an apartment hotel and over 100 commercial units.
Up till now the book fair was held at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla (prayer grounds) off Abbasabad. Before that it was held at the Permanent Exhibition Fairgrounds in the northern part of the city. Over the years both sites were found to be unfit due largely to the traffic congestion during the events and the persistent complaints from furious residents living near the two areas.
The TBF is a major cultural event where publishers from all over the world along with a large number of domestic participants take part to exhibit their new titles in different subjects.
