The Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization's (RMTO) budget for the current Iranian year (started March 21) has increased by 30% to 37 trillion rials ($1.12 billion at market exchange rate) compared to last year, of which the organization will spend 29 trillion rials ($880 million) on road maintenance and the remaining on the transportation sector, RMTO's vice chairman, Esmaeil Gholami said on Saturday.
Noting that Iran has a road network of over 215,000 kilometers, the official said the Transportation and Terminal Organization is in charge of 7,000 transportation companies, 700,000 drivers and a municipal fleet of 500,000 vehicles, transporting more than 900 million passengers per year, IRNA reported.
Referring to the issue of road safety, the official noted that 400 speed control cameras are currently used to monitor compliance with speed limits on roads and highways across the country, adding that the number of installed cameras is set to increase by 1,800 within the next three years.
According to the official, the number of road accident fatalities has reduced from 16,382 in 2009 to 12,203 in 2014.
He also underlined the organization's efforts to modernize the rural transportation fleet, noting that RMTO encourages replacement of old vehicles in these areas through offering low-interest loans to owners.
