He was speaking on the occasion of signing an agreement between the Social Security Organization and his ministry. He reiterated that the Energy Ministry “in line with the Third Five Year Development Program welcomes private sector investment both from the cooperative sector as well as foreign sources.”
Bitaraf referred to the use of foreign exchange reserve fund, his own ministry’s foreign exchange resources, electricity purchase-guarantee scheme, and provisions to transfer part of the generated income abroad in order to attract private sector investment.
The head of the Social Security Organization (SSO), Mohamad Hassan Sharifzadegan, said that his organization must invest long term which would be aimed toward the country’s development.
He confirmed that the agreement signed between the SSO and the Energy Ministry is to build a 500 megawatt power plant in Semnan Province, coming on stream three years after its completion.
It costs $150 million to build with the SSO guaranteeing to purchase its output for fifteen years while the ministry provides its required energy input during that period.
Sharifzadegan stressed that the investor could either sell the produced power back to the Energy Ministry or export it under certain conditions. He mentioned that 30% of the required funds is financed domestically with the other 70% from foreign sources, without elaborating any further.
MR/MR
END
MNA