TEHRAN – Establishment of the Transport Development Fund of Iran as a state-run company was officially started by Iranian First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri as the Ministry of Transport and Urban Development was notified with the statute of the company.

As reported by IRNA on Wednesday, the statute of the Transport Development Fund was ratified in a cabinet meeting on July 27 and the ministries of transport and urban development, and finance and economic affairs, as well as the Budget and Planning Organization were notified accordingly.

According to the fund’s charter, the Transport Development Fund is a state-owned corporation whose purpose is to finance and develop the country’s transport sector as well as the freight and passenger transport services sector.

The fund is also able to provide necessary facilities through representative banks for the private investors which are active in the transport areas.

The fund’s initial capital is set to be 190 trillion rials (over $4.5 billion) and its affiliated company is set to be in close coordination with the ministry of transport and urban development.

Earlier in June, Iran’s Transport Ministry had announced that the government has allocated $4.5 billion for establishing a transport development fund.

According to Transport and Urban Development Minister Mohammad Eslami, the establishment of the transport development fund was envisioned by the country’s Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan (2016-2021).

The minister had noted that in the current Iranian calendar year’s budget bill 200 billion rials (nearly $4.76 million) has been allocated to this fund.

In the past two decades, Iran’s transportation infrastructure has gone through major transformation and every year the country is advancing more in this area.

Currently more than 80 percent of the country’s roads are paved and the government is also hugely planning on expanding and developing the country’s railway network.

Since the country have numerous neighbors with which it has close trade ties, the expansion of land export routes including railway and roads in the border regions of the country have become the Transport and Urban Development Ministry’s top priority in the transportation area.

EF/MA