Negotiations are underway with Italian companies to finalize contracts for the development of Mehrabad International Airport in western Tehran in addition to Tabriz International Airport in East Azarbaijan Province, the CEO of Iran Airports Company, affiliated to the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, said.
“An exact date as to when a contract will be signed cannot be specified, since we need to make sure that the interests and benefits of our country have been accounted for,” Rahmatollah Mahabadi was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
Mahabadi said the government is currently in talks with the Italian side on the details of the constructions, while also negotiating the financing methods and model contracts that are to be signed in line with a preliminary agreement the Islamic Republic inked with the European country during Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s visit to Iran in April.
Iran Airports Company, which manages 54 domestic airports, signed a memorandum of understanding with Italy’s SEA Group (Società Esercizi Aeroportuali) that is in charge of development and management of Italy’s Milano Malpensa airports and airport systems, including all services and activities related to the arrival and departure of aircraft, airport safety, passenger and cargo handling, and development of commercial services.
In the first phase, an 80,000-square-meter passenger terminal is to be constructed. It could be expanded to 120,000 square meters in accordance with the growth in demand.
The terminal will increase the airport’s capacity considerably. Mehrabad’s current capacity is to handle 14 million passengers annually. According to Mahabadi, the new terminal will add the same number of passengers to the capacity.
The plan, which is estimated to require €250 million in investment, also includes landscaping and construction of parking space for 6,000 vehicles alongside the passenger terminal.
In April, Mahabadi referred to the investment agreement as “the biggest development project in Iran’s airport sector since the 1979 Islamic Revolution”.
During Renzi’s Iran visit, a €50 million investment agreement was also signed with Vitali SPA—an Italian construction firm and general contractor—to develop Tabriz International Airport, in the provincial capital of northwestern East Azarbaijan Province.
The agreement concerns investment, design and construction of a new passenger terminal in Tabriz airport in two development phases.
In the first phase, the terminal is estimated to be built on a 20,000-square-meter area to accommodate the landing of one wide-body and two average-body aircrafts at the same time.
The agreement also concerns technology transfer and restructuring and modernization of airport infrastructures of Iran.
