The ‘Mehr’ Housing project of the previous administration which was meant to solve the housing problems for many has created its own problems. Lack of basic facilities like water, electricity, and natural gas in some complexes and a shortage of recreational and health facilities in other were all unforeseen in the initial development stages of the project. But the botched project has also inherited another problem, more challenging than the others - the lack of schools within its periphery.
This was affirmed by Tehran Province Governor Hossein Hashemi who acknowledged the dire need for building educational facilities within the project complexes. ‘’Based on existing figures we can sum up that 43,000 classrooms are needed at the project construction sites,’’ Hashemi said. The minister of education was also quoted in the newspaper Iran as saying that his ministry is pursuing the construction of 25,000 schools in the vicinity of Mehr Housing. The urgency has been highlighted by several other officials too.
Funding
President of School Renovation Organization Morteza Reisi says $1 billion is needed to achieve the goal of building the minimum requirement of schools.
The issue is so exigent that the education minister himself is looking into it. “He is working to get special funding for educational spaces in newly built suburbs since no such funding exists at the moment,” Reisi said adding that the few schools built in the past in these complexes were done so with the help of funding from other organizations.
The good news is that the ministry of roads and urban development has pledged $6.6 million for the construction of educational facilities in new suburbs.
Reisi says a new bill will be sent to the parliament to make it mandatory for developers and constructors to designate educational facilities in suburbs and housing projects before the construction is launched.
