TEHRAN – Barekat Charity Foundation is working on projects for building 179 bridge and roads in deprived and underprivileged areas of 13 provinces of the country.

To date, 60 projects have been completed and the rest are underway, Mehr reported on Wednesday.

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 covers 60 cities and villages in these provinces by the construction and infrastructure activities, Mehr quoted Mohammad Mahjouri, the Foundation's deputy head, as saying on Wednesday. 

Also, 18 bridge and road construction projects are ready to be inaugurated, he stated. 

The provinces of Khuzestan, Sistan-Baluchestan, Kohgiluyeh, and Boyer-Ahmad, and Lorestan have the largest shares of the bridges and roads, he highlighted.

A budget of 1.4 trillion rials (nearly $35 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) has been predicted to be allocated for the projects, he stated.

Emphasizing that many residents of rural areas are suffering from the lack of roads and bridges, he said that the construction of bridges and roads in urban and rural areas, in addition to preventing the forced migration of villagers and various social, cultural, economic and livelihood problems due to marginalization in cities, causes the survival of the population in the border areas of the country, improving the living standards of the villagers and expanding social justice.

He announced that 47,800 construction projects are being implemented by the foundation in the country and said that 3,500 construction and infrastructure projects in various fields related to schools, mosques, cultural centers, roads, water supply, health centers, and repairing canals in deprived and less developed areas of the country will be completed by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 2021).

In addition to creating employment opportunities with the aim of eliminating deprivation, development, and economic and social empowerment in deprived areas as its main mission, the Barekat Foundation also has extensive activities in the fields of infrastructure development in these areas, he explained.

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.

FB/MG