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31% Increase in Water, Electricity Budget

31% Increase in Water, Electricity Budget
31% Increase in Water, Electricity Budget

The budget allocated to water and electricity sector in this year's budget has seen a 31-percent increase compared to last year, deputy for planning and economic affairs at the energy ministry said, Mizan news agency reported at the weekend.

Alireza Daemi said the 73000 billion rials ($2.2b) budget has now enabled the energy ministry to effectively carry out plans, such as increasing the efficiency of power plants, managing water resources and implementing different types of meters, among other things. The budget will also help improve preservation and extraction of groundwater.

The official said the ministry has no plans to commence new projects and funding will be used for completion of 40 major projects, including dam-building and improving water supply and irrigation systems.

He also stressed on further reducing wastage of energy in line with global standards. According to Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian, over the past year energy wastage was curbed by more than 3 percent, reaching 12.8 percent, and plans call for reducing it to below 10 percent in the current year (started March 21).

In addition, an estimated 4.4 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity was saved in the past year, an amount equal to the output of a 1000-MW power plant in one year, according to the minister.

Financialtribune.com