Baku, Azerbaijan, July 25
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran has stopped work on building 3 hydroelectric dams, said Mohammad Reza Rezazadeh, managing director of Iran Water and Power Resources Development Company.
Sazman, Garsha, and Karkheh-2 projects, upstream of Karkheh River in southwest of the country, have been stalled due to change in geographical conditions, Iran's Fars news agency quoted Rezazadeh as saying on July 25.
The company's development budget is around 7000 billion rials (about $220 million), but the budget which is required to implement the projects is 84000 billion rials (about $2.6 billion), he noted.
"However, we have managed to absorb 25000 billion rials (about $800 million) through other sources," he added.
Moreover, 37000 billion rials (about $1.2 billion) will be drawn out of the National Development Fund, he said.
He added that the Energy Ministry owes to the company 4000 billion rials (about $125 million).
Gholamreza Khoshkholq, deputy director of Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution Management Company of Iran (TAVANIR) said July 7 that due to water shortage in the country, just 5 percent to the total 15 percent of hydroelectric power generation capacity is used.
Khoshkholq said on June 29 that Iran would boost its power generation capacity by 2,000 megawatts in the current Iranian fiscal year, which ends on March 20, 2016.
He added that combined cycle, gas-burning, and thermal power plants will increase their power generation capacity, which currently stands at around 73,000 MW.
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