The tracklaying of the Chabahar-Zahedan railway officially started in the presence of Road Minister Eslami, the head of Khatam Al-Anbia Construction Headquarter, the province’s governor, and other senior officials.
As Iran’s Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development for Construction and Development of Railways Abbas Khatibi informed Mehr News Agency, Zahedan–Chabahar railway is the most important and strategic railway project in Iran.
He said that the railway project, which is to be operational by next year, has had 48 percent of physical development by the present time, adding, "About 32 kilometers of tracklaying has been done from Zahedan to Chabahar and today the procedure started from Chabahar to Zahedan."
The National Development Fund of Iran, due to the direct order of the Leader of the Islamic Republic, has allocated €300 million to the project, of which €100 million has been received, Khatibi said.
"After completed, the mega Chabahar-Zahedan railway will have a huge impact on railway transportation of eastern Iran, for it will be linked to the Khaf-Herat railway. Khaf-Herat railway is a major part of the Iranian railway corridor in the east of the country. The network will provide easy access to Afghanistan and Uzbekistan," added the deputy minister.
As planned, the Khaf-Herat railway will be inaugurated in less than a month, he stressed.
Road Minister Mohammad Eslami arrived at Konarak Airport in Chabahar, in the southeastern Sistan and Balojchestan on Wednesday morning to inaugurate and break the ground for implementation of 24 port and maritime projects as well as launching the track laying of the Chabahar-Zahedan railway.
As reported, of the total 24 projects, 13 ones are maritime at the value of 4.12 trillion rials ($14.72mn) and 11 ones are development projects worth 15.94 trillion rials ($56.9mn).
In his two-day stay in the province, the minister will pay a visit to various projects, border terminals and markets, petrochemical sites and etc. in Iranshahr, Zahedan, and Zabol.
The projects are expected to create more than 1,000 jobs in the region.
Reported by Haniyeh Sadat Jafariyeh