Azerbaijan, Baku, July 16/Trend M. Moezzi
Minister of Roads and Urban Development, Ali Nikzad said Iran will soon be getting a new group of passenger airplanes.
Nikzad made the statement at a coordination meeting with roads and urban development managers from eight provinces, the iribnews.ir website reports.
Iran's automobile accident rate, one of the highest in the world, began to decline in 2005. In 2011 the nation's driving fatalities were 15 percent less than 2010, which translates into 3,123 less road deaths.
The transportation minister said the government will eliminate a thousand high accident points and pave 8,000 kilometers of roads on Iran's road network this year.
This winter Nikzad announced the country would be buying a number of 100-seat, short range passenger airplanes.
Iran's fleet of passenger planes is an old one and modernizing it has been difficult for the Islamic Republic. The U.S. sanctions imposed against the country's aviation system have made it practically impossible for Iran to purchase new planes or even get spare parts for those it already has.