Ports and Maritime Organization has signed deals worth 37,000 billion rials ($1.23 billion at official exchange rate) with the private sector in the current Iranian year (started March 21).
Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi made the announcement in a ceremony held to mark the National Transportation Day on Saturday.
Referring to the activities of 16 international shipping lines in the Iranian ports this year, the minister said none of these companies steered their ships toward Iranian ports last year, IRNA reported.
“The whole change signals that the outlook for Iran’s maritime is positive,” Akhoundi said.
Speaking at the same ceremony, Managing Director of Ports and Maritime Organization Mohammad Saeedinejad said that in line with the goal of competing with Persian Gulf littoral states, maritime transportation system must be upgraded.
“Expansion of Iran’s southern ports in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman is one of the main objectives of the sixth five-year development plan (2016-21),” he said.
“To this end, we need to tap into private sector resources.”
The official noted that to encourage private sector investment, Ports and Maritime Organization is ready to guarantee all their banking loans.
Saeedinejad said the value of contracts with the private sector increased from last year’s 24,000 billion rials ($802.81 million at market exchange rate) to 37,700 billion rials ($1.23 billion) this year.
Container throughput at Iran’s ports is expected to grow by 25% per annum to around 8 million twenty-foot equivalent unit per annum over the next five years, as a confluence of benefits is realized from the expected relaxation of sanctions, according to the director for research and development at Sina Ports and Marine Services, Mehdi Rastegari.
Tehran Hosts ESCAP Meeting
The 4th regional meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific dubbed “The Policy Dialogue on Strengthening Transport Connectivity in Southern Asia” opened in Tehran on Sunday.
According to unescap.org, the two-day event seeks to identify potential opportunities and challenges for strengthening sub-regional connectivity, including the contiguous sub-regions of Southeast Asia and Central Asia, share experience on measures to enhance connectivity and explore ways to apply a set of transport facilitation tools developed by ESCAP to deepen transport connectivity.
The Policy Dialogue will also aim to identify actionable measures required to further strengthen transport connectivity, including through implementation of extended corridors along the Trans-Asian Railroad and Asian Highway routes.
“Representatives from South, Southwest and Central Asian countries, including Nepal, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan Republic as well as the World Bank, Economic Cooperation Organization, Asia Development Bank and Shanghai Economic Cooperation Organization are present at the meeting, said the secretary of the event,” Teymour Bashir Gonbadi.
Caspian Transportation Summit
Tehran also plans to host the Summit of Transportation Ministers of the Caspian States on December 23.
“Providing facilities to complete joint rail projects and develop the shipping sector as well as freight and passenger transportation are among issues to be discussed in the summit,” IRNA quoted Iran’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsen Pak-Ayeen as saying.
