BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 28. The National Development Fund of Iran (NDF) will allocate $4 billion for the projects of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, said Mehdi Ghazanfari, head of the Board of Directors of the National Development Fund, Trend reports.
He made this statement at a ceremony on Jan.28 in Tehran, where the NDF and the Maskan Bank of Iran signed a contract.
Ghazanfari explained that the NDF will lend the money to the Maskan Bank of Iran with a 2 percent annual interest rate in two phases.
The director said that in the first phase, the NDF will deposit $2 billion in the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development’s account in the Maskan Bank. The money will be used to support the National Housing Plan and to finance loans for transport projects.
He added that in the second phase, the NDF will deposit another $2 billion in the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development’s account in the Central Bank of Iran. The Ministry of Roads and Urban Development will use this money to purchase oil certificates and give them to the NDF, so that the NDF can recover the $4 billion it lent, along with the interest. Ghazanfari also said that the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development can spend the money in the second phase as it wishes.
Ghazanfari stated that the contract will last for 3 years. During this period, the Maskan Bank of Iran has to repay the NDF both the principal and the interest.
The Iranian Ministry of Roads and Urban Development is implementing the National Housing Action Plan in the country. As a part of the plan, heads of households must be registered and have 300 million rials (about $7.140) in deposits in the Maskan Bank.
The current government of Iran has planned to provide 4 million apartments in the country within the framework of the National Housing Action Plan.
According to the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development of Iran, by the middle of 2022, the area for the construction of 2.8 million apartment buildings will have been allocated.