Road Minister Mohammad Eslami arrived at Konarak Airport in
Chabahar, in the southeastern Sistan and Balouchestan on Wednesday morning to
inaugurate and break the ground for implementation of 24 major port and
maritime projects as well as launching the track laying of the Chabahar-Zahedan
railway during his two-day stay in the province.
Eslami was accompanied by a delegation comprised of senior
Iranian officials including Port and Maritime Organization (PMO) Head Mohammad
Rastad, the First Deputy Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Amir-Hossein
Ghazizadeh Hashemi, Deputy Road Minister and the Head of Construction and
Development of Transportation Infrastructure Company of Iran Kheirollah
Khademi, Head of Coastal and Port Engineering department Mohammadreza Allahyar
as well as a number of top provincial officials.
The development projects in Chabahar all seek to convert the
only Iranian ocean port, Chabahar, into a regional trade and transit hub to
play the role of a multi-purpose port at the international level. By the
present time, the port's first phase with a capacity of about 10 million tons
has been put into operation.
The development of the Chabahar Port is important for the
economic development of regional countries and it is worth noting that
endorsing regional agreements with neighboring countries are crucial for Iran
so that it can increase its transit share to connect the shores of the Indian
Ocean to Russia, northern Central Asia, and the Caucasus.
Of the total 24 projects, 13 ones were maritime at the value
of 4.12 trillion rials ($14.72mn) and 11 ones were development projects worth
15.94 trillion rials ($56.9mn).
One of the most important projects the execution of which
was commenced by the direct order of the road minister was the track laying of
the Chabahar to Zahedan railway.
The Iranian road minister arrived in Shahid Beheshti Port on
Wednesday evening to inaugurate several projects including a refrigerated container
terminal, a new building for repairing strategic equipment, entrance and exit
gates of the port, construction of a 100,000-ton grain silo, setting up an
access control system, Chabahar port logistics corridor construction project,
etc.
As Eslami told the reporters, the current unloading and
loading capacity of Chabahar Port stands at 11 million tons and thanks to the
conducted negotiations with regional countries, significant steps have been
taken for commercialization of the port.