Tehran, Iran, November 25
By Mehdi Sepahvand – Trend:
The experience of harsh years of sanctions has put spatial planning and tapping provincial potential in focus in Iran.
"Provincial development can be of high impact for us economy-wise… since if there is no production in rural areas, we would have to rely on imports," MP Nasser Mousavi Laregani told Trend November 22.
He pointed out that under situations when even after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran is being threatened by new sanctions, making full use of domestic capabilities is a necessity.
Last month, the US President Donald Trump refused to certify the JCPOA, vowing more sanctions on Iran.
In the meantime, European companies, which Iran used to look forward to as trade partners in the post-JCPOA era, have shown unable to work against US sanctions and their prospective joint ventures with Iran remain in limbo.
Last year Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the allocation of $500 million from the National Development Fund to go into water distribution projects in remote are rural areas.
Khamenei also recently authorized the allocation of another $1.5 billion to rural employment and business development.
"We should provide the residents of rural and remote areas with what they need in order to stay in their provinces and start production," Laregani noted.
Experiences of rapid urban population growth in Iran after 1940s affected the process of planning and development and established a new era for Iranian cities. Rapid urbanization in Iran from 1940s onward was influenced by several key factors, namely: exploitation of gas and oil as new resources for economic development; trade improvements with other countries due to the increased importance of the Persian Gulf; and, changes in people’s lifestyles due to growth of modernity.
Rural population in Iran was reported at 26.12 % in 2016, according to the World Bank's development indicators.