TEHRAN – Head of Iranian Gas Engineering and Development Company (IGEDC) said the company plans to build 800 kilometers of pipelines for gas transmission by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2020).

According to Bahram Salavati, installing new pressure boosting facilities in the national network’s main pipelines was also on the company’s agenda.

In early May, Salavati had said that IGEDC was planning to connect 4,100 kilometers of new gas pipelines to the country’s national network by 2025.

The official said the company had also outsourced construction of 2,000 km of gas pipelines to private developers.

Most of the mentioned pipelines are aimed to connect the country’s rural areas to the national gas network.

Earlier this month, National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC)'s Gas Distribution Director Saeid Momeni said 73.6 percent of the country’s rural areas have been connected to the national gas network in the current Iranian calendar year’s first quarter (March 21-June 21).

According to the official, the NIGC has it on the agenda to supply gas to 10 villages every month. That means by the end of the current year 3600 villages will be connected to the gas network.

The number of the cities connected to the national gas network, has also increased to 1117, which is 96.9 percent of the country’s total urban areas.

Earlier in January, Iranian parliament (Majlis) approved a bill to allocate 50 trillion rials (about $1.16 billion) for expanding the country’s gas network to new rural areas.

According to the bill, the banks would provide NIGC and provincial gas companies with the mentioned fund under the Oil Ministry’s guarantee.

EF/MA