TEHRAN –A budget of 50 billion rials (about $1.2 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) has been allocated to implement a project to create the first tourism corridor between the UNESCO-registered historical sites of Taq-e Bostan and Bisotun in western Kermanshah province.

The project started about a decade ago, however, studies progressed at a very slow pace, ISNA quoted Omid Qaderi, the provincial tourism chief, as saying on Tuesday.

With the completion of the study phases in the past Iranian calendar year (March 2019-March 2020), about 18 large projects and 25 small projects have been considered to be carried out along the route as well, he explained.

To prepare the corridor’s infrastructure for the presence of investors and the collaboration of the private sector, the project needs a total budget of 12 trillion rials (about $286 million), the official added.  

The corridor will run for 32 kilometers and connects two popular tourist destinations of Taq-e Bostan and Bisotun, therefore it is expected to boost tourism in the province and encourage more tourists to enter the region, he explained.

Inscribed into the base of a towering cliff, Taq-e Bostan comprises extraordinary Sassanian bas-reliefs of ancient victorious kings divide opinions. Late afternoon is the best time to visit, as the cliff turns a brilliant orange in the setting sun, which then dies poetically on the far side of the duck pond.

Bisotun is a patchwork of immense yet impressive life-size carvings depicting the king Darius I and several other figures. UNESCO has it that Bisotun bears outstanding testimony to the important interchange of human values on the development of monumental art and writing, reflecting ancient traditions in monumental bas-reliefs.

ABU/MG