A total of 220 million liters of liquid fuel (gasoline and diesel) are used by the transportation fleet daily in Iran, the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company said.
“The figure means losing $58 billion per year. If only this consumption volume were to reduce by 10%, it could be spent on the development of transportation fleet and infrastructure in this sector as well as in the oil industry,” Jalil Salari was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news service Shana.
“The country's transport fleet has about 300,000 worn-out vehicles, the fuel consumption of which is high. About 150,000 heavy vehicles are active in the transport fleet. On average, 64 million liters of diesel are distributed in this sector per day, which is a very large number,” he added.
the official noted that in terms of fuel supply, there is no shortage, but if we have a 10-12% growth in annual consumption, it will be difficult to meet this demand.
A large number of buses, minibuses and vans in Iran’s public transportation fleet are worn-out, but those in charge have failed to revamp this fleet.
The process of modernization has been extremely slow in recent years, as officials and institutions concerned announce that projects are in the pipeline to get rid of the worn-out passenger fleet but there is no momentum.
In the past 12 years, no effective initiative has been taken for bus modernization, even though more than 80% of the buses are reportedly decrepit and their use imposes heavy costs on the government.
The Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade had announced that 8,000 to 10,000 new buses would be supplied to reduce the high fuel consumption of decrepit vehicles and cut air pollution.
Public Transportation
According to the ministry, the share of public transportation in the country is 33%, which should be increased to 45%.
Some 12,000 vans are plying the country’s roads, all of which are over 13 years old, so a contract has been signed for renovating 5,000 vehicles.
Over 90% of minibuses are worn-out and a modernization program for 8,000 buses and 5,000 minibuses has been placed on the agenda. However, the modernization of bus fleet will not be possible without the cooperation of car manufacturers.
On the one hand, last year, Iran Khodro Diesel, as the country's largest commercial vehicle manufacturer, resumed bus production after 10 years and was able to conclude contracts to produce and supply parts needed by the new buses.
On the other hand, manufacturers such as SNA and Oghab Afshan have not halted their activities during this period and are taking effective steps to help expand the transportation fleet.
Iran Khodro Diesel has committed to deliver 2,500 buses to the Industries Ministry through an 18-month contract.
