TEHRAN (PIN) – Member of Parliament Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh here Monday lauded Petroleum Ministry for supplying gas in the underprivileged parts of Iran.

Falahatpisheh, a member of Foreign Policy and National Security Committee of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, talking to PIN expressed hope the operations of providing Eslamabad-e Gharb and Karand-e Gharb with gas would be implemented ahead of the upcoming winter and people could use the energy carrier in the cold season.
He blamed massive operations for the delay in gas-supply projects in the region, adding 209km and 36km gas pipe-laying operations in Eslamabad-e Gharb and Karand-e Gharb respectively were undergoing last-stage processes.
The lawmaker said Gahvareh and 10 villages of the region would be supplied with gas according to oil minister’s promise and Fourth Five-Year Development Plan (2005-2010) by late Dec.
The managing director of National Iranian Gas Co. (NIGC) said the country would make a 90-billion-dollar investment in the gas transmission projects in its 20-year Vision Plan.
Seyyed Reza Kassaeizadeh termed as important the gas transmission sector, calling it an infrastructure and national industry.
The NIGC chief added, “Based on the 20-year Vision Plan, 130 billion dollars will be invested, out of which 90 billion dollars will be allocated to the gas transmission projects.”
According to the plan, the country needed to lay 53 thousand kilometers of transmission pipes and build 140 boosters, said the ranking official, adding 35 gas pressure stations would become operational every five years of the 20-year period, costing 100 million dollars each.
“At present over 25 thousand kilometers of high pressure gas transmission lines and 52 boosters are working nationwide,” said Kassaeizadeh.
To achieve the objectives of the Vision Plan, NIGC had given top priorities to exports, imports, swap, and supply of gas for different sectors including household, commercial, industrial, power plant, and transportation sectors, he added.
The official expressed his satisfaction with the gas industry’s performance during the past two years, however saying the sector was still far from ideal conditions and greater efforts were needed to this end.