National resources are being utilized to make up for the shortcomings in the transportation sector, said the minister of roads and urban development, Abbas Akhoundi on Saturday, pointing that private sector inefficiency in the transportation sector has pushed the administration to utilize its revenues from national resources such as oil to keep the sector running, IRNA reported. Speaking at the 8th national conference of accountants and financial managers, Akhoundi said fifteen years after the privatization of national railway, the average investment in this sector has only been $20 million per year.“It is the same story in the aviation industry, which is teetering on the brink of collapse,” he added, noting that the 18 active airlines in Iran all have old and out-dated aircraft.
The minister criticized the government for failing to properly transfer firms to the private sector as part of the privatization policy outlined in Article 44 of the Iranian Constitution, and called for “redefining privatization in the transportation industry.”
