TEHRAN - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, on Thursday, inaugurated several development projects worth 120.5 trillion rials (about $2.86 billion) in the northern Mazandaran Province and western Ilam Province via video conference.

As reported by IRNA, 10.5 trillion rials (nearly $250 million) of the mentioned projects were inaugurated or launched in Mazandaran, while the value of the projects put into operation or launched in Ilam was estimated at 110 trillion rials (about $2.61 billion).

Iranian Transport and Urban Development Minister Mohammad Eslami attended the inauguration ceremonies in Ilam province.

The projects included numerous highways, freeways, rural access roads, affordable housing units, and a railway project.

As for Mazandaran, some 92 kilometers of highways as well as 466 affordable housing units were inaugurated, and the construction operations for 30 kilometers of freeways were also started.

The president also inaugurated a 126-kilometer freeway as well as 230 kilometers of highways and rural and urban access roads and ordered the start of constructing 470 kilometers of ways in Ilam.

Some 7,900 square meters of government and public buildings, completion of semi-finished projects and also 1,300 affordable Mehr housing units in Ilam, Dehloran and Abdanan counties were also among the inaugurated projects in Ilam province.

Earlier this month, Rouhani had inaugurated four industrial and mining projects worth 48.26 trillion rials (about $1.149 billion) in the northeastern Khorasan Razavi Province and central Isfahan Province via video conference.

Transport and Urban Development Ministry has it on the agenda to inaugurate 980 kilometers of freeways during the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 20, 2021), according to Mohammad Eslami.

The minister said that there are currently 2,460 km of freeways laid across the country, Mehr news agency reported.

EF/MA