TEHRAN - Iranian deputy transport minister said National Development Fund (NDF) of Iran has allocated $1.6 billion for renovating the country’s transportation fleet, IRIB reported on Tuesday.

“Upon President Rouhani's directive, National Development Fund will soon provide nearly $1.6 billion to renovate the transportation fleet,” Shahram Adamnejad said in a gathering of the country’s professional transport organizations.

Speaking in the meeting, Adamnejad noted that transportation accounts for 8.5 percent of the country’s total Gross Domestic Production (GDP) and the sector has created direct jobs for over two million people across the country.

Back in 2018, IRIB reported that Iran is going to rejuvenate its transport body by scrapping more than 199,000 vehicles by the end of the Iranian calendar year of 1399 (March 20, 2021).

According to the report, the scrappage scheme would be financed by NDF and also foreign investment.

The decision was announced during a gathering of the country’s carmakers, and directors from the banking sector, NDF and Planning and Budget Organization (PBO) which was held in July 2018 to discuss the national plan for the modernization of public transportation fleet.

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.

EF/MA