Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 17
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Khatam-ol Anbia Construction Headquarters, affiliated with Iran 's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has paved the way for the country's private sector to replace foreign companies in development projects.
Khatam-ol Anbia commander Brigadier General Ebadollah Abdollahi said that Khatam-ol Anbia has carried out over 2,000 development projects in the country over the past 25 years, Iran's IRIB reported Dec. 17.
Based on the Constitution, the administration is allowed to take advantage of armed forces in different areas, he noted.
Earlier on Dec. 15, Abdollahi said the headquarters carried out the Gorgan-Inche Borun railway project in less than one year and this can be considered a record.
"We have constructed 3,700 kilometers of roads and rail projects in the country," Abdollahi explained.
According to the official, Khatam-ol-Anbia headquarters have created over 135,000 job opportunities.
He went on to say that the headquarters has made a suggestion to the administration to conduct mining exploration operations in the country.
The headquarters is cooperating with the administration with no specific problem, he noted.
We believe that the expansion of mineral operations can help the country reduce dependence on oil revenues, he said.
Khatam-ol Anbia has taken projects which require maximum 150 billion rials (about $4.5 million) investment, he noted.
Khatam-ol Anbia, affiliated with the IRGC is a giant company firm with 25,000 employees. It controls over 812 registered companies inside and outside Iran. Some 10 percent of the company's employees are IRGC members and the rest are contractors. The company is also connected to Iran 's oil and gas industry.
The Iranian government has offered a 32.7 percent rise in defense expenditure in next year's budget bill (to start March 21, 2015) compared to current year's budget, most of which will be assigned to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
IRGC's budget has increased to 174 trillion rials (about $6.11 billion based on official rate of each USD at 28,500 rials in the budget bill), of that amount about 100 trillion rials (about $3.51 billion) is allocated to Khatam-ol Anbia, some 60 percent of IRGC's total budget for next year.