Tehran, Iran, March 8
Trend:
Iran's Chabahar Free Trade Zone Organisation official Gholam-Reza Panah stated that a new passenger airport will be established there soon.
"This is one of the essential needs of the Chabahar port, to have an airport," he said. "The current airport in Chabahar is a military one, and isn't suited for passengers," Panah told Trend.
“One of the advantages of the Chabahar port is the transit capacity of this port, which geographically can bring a lot of benefits for our country,” he said.
"Today, for every ton of commodity that passes through Iran, $150 worth of revenue is earned,” he said. “So the transit of commodities is one of the great sources of income, and Chabahar has great advantage here.”
He went on to say that Afghanistan needs to cross the waters of Iran, because it doesn't have access to sea.
"There are also 10 other countries that do not have access to free waters, and their passage could go through the Chabahar port," he said.
“Of course, India also needs Chabahar for accessing Afghanistan and Central Asia,” he added.
“If our railway line is established and would be able to connect the port to the border of Sarakhs through the rail, naturally, the Central Asian countries will have the most desirable and most economical transit route from Chabahar,” he said, referring to the necessary steps to be taken for realizing the port's maximum capacity in transit.
Referring to the relations between Iran and China in implementation of the Chabahar port`s projects, he said that “a series of agreements are being discussed with China."
“Two countries are to cooperate in establishment of a Petrochemical Complex, which, of course, has not yet been implemented and is a MoU as of yet,” said Panah.
Pointing to the role of India in development of the Chabahar port, he said that many agreements have been made on various projects, including energy.