TEHRAN – Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian said that his ministry is going to inaugurate 125 major projects under the framework of the A-B-Iran scheme, by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2021).

Speaking in the inauguration ceremony of a water supply project in the northern province of Semnan on Monday, Ardakanian noted that so far 125 projects have gone operational across the country under the framework of the mentioned program.

According to the official, some 320 trillion rials (about $7.61 billion) so far has been invested in the mentioned 125 projects.

Based on the mentioned program, a total of 500 trillion rials (over $11.9 billion) worth of energy projects are planned to be inaugurated and put into operation during the current Iranian calendar year.

A-B-Iran program (the acronyms A and B stand for water and electricity in Persian) was initiated in the previous Iranian calendar year, during which Ardakanian made 31 trips to various provinces for inaugurating over 220 major projects with a total investment of 335.6 trillion rials (about $7.99 billion).

Underlining the significance of the inaugurated projects and the government’s efforts for supplying drinkable water to the country’s rural areas, the minister said currently over 82 percent of Iran’s rural population is supplied with drinkable water through pipelines while the average access to clean water in 52 percent worldwide.

“Today, 100 percent of the country's urban population enjoys safe drinking water through pipeline, which is four percent higher than the global average,” the official said.

Since the beginning of the second phase of the A-B-Program in the current Iranian calendar year every week several energy projects have gone operational across the country.

Back in August, Ardakanian said that in the second phase of the A-B-Iran scheme 250 projects were going to be inaugurated by the end of the current Iranian calendar year.

EF/MA