Baku, Azerbaijan, June 22
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Sixty percent of highways in Iran are built by Khatam al-Anbia Construction Base Headquarters, which is controlled by the Islamic Revolution's Guards Corps (IRGC), said Khatam al-Anbia commander Brigadier General Ebadollah Abdollahi.
He made the remarks on the sidelines of a ceremony in Tehran for building a new highway, Iran 's Fars news agency reported June 22.
Despite all the financial restrictions, Khatam al-Anbia is implementing kinds of road and dam building, as well as rail, oil, gas, and petrochemical projects, he said.
"Although the sanctions have some effects on the country, we have not stopped activity."
At present, Khatam al-Anbia is building 4,000 kilometers of railway across the country, he said, adding that some 150,000 people are working for the headquarters.
Established during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, Khatam al-Anbia is one of the Iran 's largest contractors in industrial and development projects.
It controls over 812 registered companies inside and outside Iran. Some 10 percent of the company's employees are the IRGC members and the rest are contractors.
In 2011, then a commander of the base, Rostam Qasemi said that the base has completed "more than 10,000 various construction projects" around the country.
Late in September, Akbar Torkan, a senior official in the President Hassan Rouhani administration criticized the firm for negligence and delay in completing the undertaken projects.
Edited by CN