Currently, there are 88,000 suspended industrial projects across the country, with progress ranging from 1 to 90 percent, IRNA quoted deputy minister of industry, mine, and trade, Mehdi Danesh-Yazdi as saying on Sunday.
He described the unfinished industrial projects as the legacy of the former administration.
“Some 2.5 million new jobs could be created once these projects become operational in the medium term. There are currently 84,000 industrial units in the country, providing employment for more than 2.2 million people,” said the official.
Earlier, Vice President for Executive Affairs, Mohammad Shariatmadari said it will take at least 24 years for the government to complete the unfinished projects, considering the limited resources available.
About 2,700 trillion rials ($97.22 billion based on official currency exchange rate) has been offered to the industrial, mineral, agricultural, and service sectors in loans so far this Iranian calendar year (to end March 20), the deputy minister noted, adding that 31% of the loans were granted to the industrial sector.
Since the current administration came to office in 2013, it has prioritized the unfinished projects based on their progress, allocating budgets only to projects with over 80% progress. Considering the limited financial resources and in order to speed up the completion of other unfinished projects without allocating big budgets, the administration has sought help from cooperatives and the private sector to finish the projects with less than 50% progress.
