Tehran, Iran, Dec. 13
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
An Iranian MP said that after 17 years of construction, Iran's Tehran-Shomal (northern provinces) freeway is only 17 percent complete.
A member of the Construction Commission of Iranian Parliament (Majlis) Alireza Khosravi told Trend Agency on Dec. 13 that the progress rate of the project is too slow.
"So far some 10 trillion rials (some $312.5 million based on the exchange rate of US dollar at the free market) have been invested in the project," he said.
"But we still need to invest another 90 trillion rials (some $2.81 billion based on the exchange rate of US dollar at the free market) in the project," Khosravi added.
He went on to note that Bonyad (Mostazafan Fourndation) is in charge of constructing the remaining sections of the freeway.
"The progress of the project is so slow that we can't even predict a date for its completion," the MP noted.
Tehran-Shomal (northern provinces) freeway is among the top priorities of Iran's Roads and Urban Development ministry.
Throughout the years, several contractors such as Bonyad, Khatam-ol-Anbia headquarters, and Chinese firms have in turn signed agreements to carry out the project, nonetheless, little progress has been made.
Deputy Roads and Urban Development Minister Ali Nourzad said on January 21 that Finnish investors are ready to invest in Iran's Tehran-Shomal (northern provinces) freeway once the US-led sanctions on the country are lifted, the Iranian ISNA News Agency reported.
Deputy Director of Iran's Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructure Company, Hassan Ahmadi-Nouri, said on January 7 that the first section of Tehran-Shomal (northern provinces) freeway will come on stream in two years, the ISNA News Agency reported.
China's SPA Company was previously in charge of construction of the first section of the freeway.
Bonyad (Mostazafan Fourndation) representative, Rahmatollah Sadeqian, said back in May that the Roads and Urban Development ministry has not fulfilled its financial commitments regarding the project, the Mehr News Agency reported.
He went on to note that ministry owes over 6.8 trillion rials (some $226.6 million) to the Bonyad.
According to the Majlis (parliament) Research Center, the ministry owes over 63 trillion rials (approximately $2.1 billion based on the exchange rate of US dollar at the free market) to all the contractors.
The construction plan of Tehran-Shomal freeway was started in 1997.