TEHRAN - Iranian Transport and Urban Development Minister Abbas Akhoundi says 121 projects, worth €25 billion, will be offered to investors at the first Iran Transportation and Urban Development Summit (ITUDS), which will be held from October 3-4 in Tehran .

Akhoundi made the statement in a press conference in Tehran on Sunday.

He said the investment opportunities will be introduced in the eight sectors of rail transportation, road transportation, air transportation, marine transportation, urban development, energy saving, port industry, and airport industry.

The projects are planned to be financed through four methods of BOT (build–operate–transfer), BLT (build–lease–transfer), leasing and lease purchase, the minister stated.

He said these projects will be offered in one stage and the ministry plans to offer a number of projects to the foreign investors in another stage.

The official mentioned some of the projects to be offered to the participants in the summit as 35 projects for development of new towns, 3 projects for development of Imam Khomeini International Airport and 23 projects for construction of airport terminals, as well as 6 rail projects, 5 highway projects, 3 road maintenance projects, 22 marine projects and 3 urban development projects.

In terms of attracting foreign investment in the country’s air sector, Akhoundi said: “We have negotiated with many reputable foreign companies even before Iran’s nuclear deal. We have made initial agreements with some of them for renovating the air fleet, developing the infrastructures and equipping the navigation system.”

“We are also planning to offer packages of incentive and support to the domestic companies for importing aircrafts based on leasing agreement”, he added.

“We intend to renovate Iran Air Company as the mother of Iran’s air sector. The renovation is planned to be conducted in terms of fleet, management and financial system”, the minister stated.

In the field of regional transportation, Akhoundi said: “Given the geographical location of Iran in the region, we are planning to develop our facilities for road transportation to the regional countries. We have paid serious attention to renovation of border terminals and facilitation of transportation from borders of the country over the past two years. We have had also some fruitful negotiations with India and China for development of Chabahar Port in the Gulf of Oman.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, the official said: “Considering the great economic capacities that exist in the Persian Gulf region, we are planning to develop ports and establish new towns there.”

In terms of exporting technical and engineering services, the minister stated: “Iran has a good status in the region for exporting such services; although we should focus more on the management knowledge and marketing knowledge in our new condition of activity.”

In the end, Akhoundi said: “The legal barriers we face for attraction of foreign investment in the country are few.”

ITUDS is anticipated to be attended by 700 Iranian and 100 foreign participants. France, England, Spain, Finland, South Korea, Italy, Germany, Belgium, China, Turkey, Denmark, Qatar, the United Arab Emirate and Russia have already registered for participation in the event.