A top official says 116 plans and 600 infrastructural projects are under way in the transportation sector. “With 27,270 trillion rials ($101.3 billion at official exchange rate) in budget to be allocated to the transportation sector next year, a number of these projects will be completed,” said Ali Noorzad, head of the Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructure Company in a meeting on Sunday. According to IRNA, Noorzad, also the deputy minister of roads and urban development, said that the administration currently has 185 kilometers of tunnels and 95 kilometers of bridges under construction. The government, he said, spends 25 billion rials ($929,000) for construction of each kilometer of road, 50-70 billion rials ($1.8-$2.6 million) for construction of each kilometer of railway, and 70-100 billion rials ($2.6-$3.7 million) for construction of each kilometer of highway.
