BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 15
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
The Iranian government has spent 6 trillion rials (about $142 million) on border terminals over the past four years, Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami said, Trend reports citing the ministry.
He made the remark in a meeting with members of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines & Agriculture.
The minister noted that almost half of Iran's border terminals have been built in the new design.
Eslami added that a minimum of 4 border terminals have been put into operation in the last 4 years, and several more will be launched soon.
According to him, a unified management system will be applied at Iranian border terminals. This system will be used for the first time at the Bazargan customs, which is Iran's border customs with Turkey. Thus, additional protocol issues existing at Iran's border terminals will be resolved.
The minister emphasized Border terminals can be strengthened by creating a structure in the transit area. So, the volume of goods transited via railways has increased by at least 30-40 percent compared to the pre-coronavirus period.
“More than 450,000 tons of cargo were transported between Iran and Azerbaijan via the Astara-Astara railway line in the last Iranian year (from March 21, 2019, to March 20, 2020). However, this figure is projected to exceed 700,000 tons by the end of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2021),” he said.