Baku, Azerbaijan, June 14
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
An official with Iran Electrical Industry Syndicate (IEIS) has criticized the country's Energy Ministry over recent deals with Turkish and Korean firms.
Ali Bakhshi, vice-chairman of the board of directors of Iran Electrical Industry Syndicate (IEIS), has said that the recently agreed deals with Turkish and South Korean firms on building power plants in the country lack transparency, Fars news agency reported.
The ministry has not provided the public with details of the contracts, he added.
Bakhshi also touched upon the ongoing recession in the country's power industry saying that the domestic companies related to power industry use only 25 percent of their capacity.
According to Bakhshi, Iranian Energy Ministry's debts to the power firms and contractors amount to $4.9 billion.
Iran's gas deliveries to power plants decreased by 5 percent to 11.865 billion cubic meters (bcm) during 107 days of current fiscal year, started on March 21.
According to the latest statistics released by Energy Ministry June 14, the oil gas and fuel oil consumption of power plants decreased by 27.1 percent and 12.1 percent to 218 million liters and 540 million liters during the mentioned time.
The report, published on the ministry's official website, said that about 54,563 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) electricity was generated in 3.5 months, of which 706 million kWh was exported.
It was earlier announced that Iran had signed a new contract with a group of foreign companies to attract $4.2 billion worth direct investments for building power plants in the country.