BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 13. A total of 5 trillion rials (about $119 million) is needed to complete the construction of the Manjil-Rudbar part of the Qazvin-Rasht freeway, Iranian Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development, and CEO of Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructure Company (CDTIC) Kheirollah Khademi said, Trend reports.
The Manjil-Rudbar part remains the only unfinished part of the Qazvin-Rasht freeway.
He added that the construction of the Manjil-Rudbar freeway is planned to be completed and put into use by the end of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2023 through March 20, 2024).
According to Khademi, so far, 17.5 trillion rials (about $417 million) has been spent on this part of the freeway.
Manjil-Rudbar freeway, which is about 8.5 km long, is considered to be the most complex road construction project in the country due to the number of tunnels and bridges. Due to difficult terrain, this highway has been under construction for many years.
The length of the Qazvin-Rasht freeway in Iran is 165 kilometers. The foundation of this freeway was laid in 2001. Except for the Manjil-Rudbar part, it was launched in 2009 and cost 4 trillion rials (about $95.2 million). In 2011, the foundation of the Manjil-Rudbar part was laid and it was planned to spend 3.1 trillion rials (about $73.8 million).
However, Iran has experienced serious devaluations in recent years. As a result of devaluations, the value of the Iranian rial has seriously decreased. So, at the beginning of 2018, $1 was worth 20,000 rials on the black market, but now $1 is 510,000 rials.
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