TEHRAN,Iran, June 15
Trend:
Iranian parliament's plan to turn the west of Mazandaran into a separate province requires proper infrastructure to be developed, representative of Mazandaran Province in Iran's parliament Anoushirvan Mohseni Bandpey told Trend.
"I do not have problem with turning west of Mazandaran into a province but we should think of efficient executives first," he said.
"Agriculture and industry sectors have been sacrificed for the sake of tourism in west of Mazandaran Province," he said.
"In my conversation with the Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade, I have insisted that only 15 percent of industries in industrial cities of Marzanabad and Nowshahr are active. Tourism development is important, but if all the focus is on tourism and agriculture, the industrial sector will be affected," Bandpey added.
"Tourism requires development of infrastructure and our roads are not good ,there is heavy traffic and road accidents alongside lack of access to medical services or equipped hospitals. Most hotels are underdeveloped, and most of hotels in Nowshahr, Chalous and Kelardasht are old," he said.
"The road to Kelardasht is usually overloaded with travelers and it needs new paint to mark the road lanes, and the infrastructure there needs to be renewed too," he added.
"The population in west of Mazandaran is 700,000 but 17 million travelers have visited the region in the past Iranian year (started March 21,2019) that is 24 times more than local population. That affects the development of the region," Bandpey said.
"The high number of tourists in west of Mazandaran has also created problems in terms of low human resources and medical equipment in Nowshahr," he added.
"West of Mazandaran used to produce rice but now its residents buy it elsewhere while industrial and agricultural sectors aren't getting the modernization they need," he said.