Next year’s budget proposal for the transport sector has increased by 18 percent, deputy minister of roads and urban development Amir Amini said in a news conference in the western province of Lorestan on Thursday. The official who was in Lorestan to tour national road projects said from the total 1.6 trillion rials ($58.1 million based on official exchange rate) allocated to the ministry of roads, 950 billion rials ($34.5 million ) is to be earmarked for expansion and maintenance of roads and the rest will go to the housing sector. The current budget of the ministry stands at $1.07 trillion rials ($38.8 million), he added. Minister of Roads and Urban Development, Abbas Akhundi, earlier announced that the minimum amount required for the development of the national road network is about 1,000 trillion rials ($36.3 billion), adding that road transport projects will receive more financing once a comprehensive nuclear agreement is reached between Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany).
