TEHRAN – In a virtual ceremony on Tuesday, Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian inaugurated 2,230 electricity supply projects with a total investment of 31.6 trillion rials (over $752 million) in various provinces across the country.

As reported by IRNA, the mentioned projects were inaugurated in Isfahan, Alborz, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, Qom, Qazvin, Tehran, Ilam, Kordestan, East and West Azarbaijan and Sistan- Baluchestan provinces on the occasion of the Government Week (August 23-29).

Speaking in the inauguration ceremony which was held in Alborz Province, Deputy Energy Minister Gholam-Ali Rakhshani said with the implementation of these projects, more than 350,000 new subscribers joined the country's national grid.

According to Rakhshani, there are currently 37 million subscribers that enjoy the electricity supplied by the national electricity network.

The official noted that the Energy Ministry has defined new projects valued at 60 trillion rials (about $1.4 billion) for reforming and improving the national grid and also a project for promoting smart electricity meters is a top priority for the ministry.

Ardakanian who visited Alborz Province to attend the inauguration ceremony also put 26 water and waste-water projects worth 1.32 trillion rials (about 31.4 million) into operation in the mentioned province.

Energy Ministry has been inaugurating numerous water and electricity projects in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 20) under the framework of a program called A-B-Iran.

Earlier this month, Ardakanian had said that 53 major water and electricity projects had gone operational since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20) up to August 3.

According to the minister, the total investment made in the mentioned projects was 147.25 trillion rials (about $3.5 billion).

In the second phase of the A-B-Iran scheme (the acronyms A and B stand for water and electricity in Persian) 250 projects are going to be inaugurated by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2021).

A total of 500 trillion rials (about $11.9 billion) of investment will be made in the mentioned 250 projects.

EF/MA