TEHRAN- Last Tuesday and on the third day of the Iranian Parliament intensive sessions to discuss the credentials and backgrounds of President Hassan Rouhani’s proposed ministers, the turn came to Abbas Akhoundi, the ministerial nominee for transport and urban development to propose his future plans for the vote of confidence. However, the session did not conclude on the same day and was postponed to Saturday morning.

Addressing the parliament members on Saturday, the proposed minister classified Iranians in need of house into four groups. “First are the youths who need a house to get married, the second are 11 million Iranians who live in rural areas and are in the focal point of the government, the next are the 8 million ones who live in dilapidated buildings and the last are the low-income earners of the society,” he said, underlining that each category is significant for the government.

Akhoundi, elsewhere, described his future plans in railway sector noting that while there are above 217,000 kilometers of roads in the country, domestic railroad network is about 13,000 kilometers.

“By 2021, the government plans to increase the volume of transported goods via railway sector by 30 percent and the number of transported passengers by 20 percent,” he added. 

The probable future minister also added that to develop domestic transportation infrastructure, the country would highly rely on domestic private sector as well as foreign financial resources.

Talking about domestic aviation system and air fleet, Akhoundi underlined the important role of implementation of nuclear deal with the six world powers and said that renovation of Iran’s air fleet has begun using $33 billion in the post-sanctions era. 

“There are presently about 2,230 kilometers of freeways in Iran and the figure is to be boosted up to 5,000 kilometers in future,” he added. 

HJ/MA