Baku, Azerbaijan, May 3
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Forty-five percent of industrial units in Iran's West Azarbaijan province have been closed.
Iranian deputy industry minister Ali Yazdani said 55 percent of the province's industrial units are also about to be closed down, Iran's ILNA news agency reported on May 3.
"For 2,885 industrial units in the province working permits have been issued," he said. "Unfortunately, 2,586 industrial projects are only partially finished."
The province is located northwest of the country. It borders four countries.
On April 25, Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani said more than 4000 trillion rials (about $155 billion) worth of development projects are underway in Iran.
However, just 200-300 trillion (about $8-11 billion) fund can be allocated to the projects, Iran's Fars news agency reported on April 25.
The projects will take several years to be completed. So, even if the projects are finished in years, they will be outdated, he explained.
In December 2013, ISNA quoted Iranian parliament's vice speaker Mohammadreza Bahonar as saying that some 1,200 trillion rials (about $48 billion) worth of road and transport projects are semi-finished in Iran.
Yet the current year's budget bill has allocated 380 trillion rials (about $15.3 billion) to development projects, he added.
...