TEHRAN – Barekat Charity Foundation will implement 218 water supply projects with a budget of 1.1 trillion rials (nearly $261 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) in deprived and rural areas of the country.

Affiliated to the Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam also known as Setad-e Ejraiy-e Farman-e Hazrat-e Emam, the foundation is implementing the projects in more than 711 villages of the country, of which 186 projects have been put into operation, IRNA quoted Mohammad Mahjouri, deputy head of the foundation, as saying on Sunday.

South Khorasan, Khorasan Razavi, Khuzestan, Zanjan, Fars, Mazandaran, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Kerman, Kermanshah, Lorestan, Qom, Markazi, Hormozgan, Kordestan, Ilam, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari and Tehran, are the 17 provinces covered by the foundation's water supply services, he explained.

Last year, the foundation also implemented 75 water supply projects in 477 villages, based on the policies for providing more services to deprived areas and preventing the migration of villagers, he noted.

He went on to say that in addition to preventing rural migration and various social, cultural, economic and livelihood problems, the supply of drinking water to rural villages, especially in areas suffering from drought, has led to the preservation and survival of the population in the border areas. 

Besides, the increase in the health and well-being of the villagers and the expansion of social justice, increasing income, and helping the livelihood of the villagers by providing the water needed for the livestock and poultry, he added.

Creating sustainable employment for the villagers and providing infrastructure services such as water supply is done in this regard, will help the rural population, he noted.

According to Mahjouri, the foundation has put into operation about 35,000 construction and infrastructure projects in deprived and less developed areas of the country.

“Barekat Foundation has allocated more than 2.3 trillion rials (around $547 million) for the implementation of these projects,” he concluded.

Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam was founded in 1989. In the Iranian calendar year, 1386 (March 2017-March 2018) Barekat Charity Foundation- the social arm of the organization- with the aim of promoting social justice was established.

Socio-economic empowerment of communities by encouraging entrepreneurship prioritizing breadwinner women, developing infrastructures such as water supply and power grids, building roads, constructing schools and increasing educational spaces, promoting health for all, granting non-repayable loans and insurance especially in less developed areas and regions most affected by 1980s war and natural disasters are of the priorities of the charity foundation.

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