Rural Water Supply Remains Energy Ministry Priority

The Energy Ministry can withdraw $280 million from the National Development Fund of Iran, the country's sovereign wealth fund, to finish incomplete water and power projects, the ministry's deputy for economic and planning department said.
“Expanding the water network in underprivileged regions will be given higher priority in the next fiscal (starting in March),” Energy Today, a private media group, quoted Mohsen Bakhtiar as saying. 
He added that from the total amount, close to $180 million would go for supplying remote areas with piped water. An estimated $40 million will be spent on improving water quality in parched regions and the rest on reducing the harmful effects of dust and sand storms on the national power grid, especially in the southern regions.
Referring to the next fiscal (March 2020-21) budget bill, he said the ministry’s share is $3.5 billion. The Majlis has yet not given its final position on the draft budget.