TEHRAN – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, on Thursday, inaugurated 3,569 projects worth 56.1 trillion rials (about $1.33 billion) aimed for natural resources and watershed management, as well as the development of irrigation and drainage networks in the country’s western and northwestern regions and the northeastern Golestan province.

Inaugurated in the 43rd series of inauguration ceremonies in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 20, 2020), the mentioned projects are going to create job opportunities for over 105,771 people.

As reported by IRNA, with the construction of irrigation and drainage networks in Golestan province, the net income of farmers through both irrigated and rainfed cultivation will increase by 58 percent and 159 percent, respectively, and the irrigation water productivity index will also increase by 44 percent.

The mentioned projects are aimed at promoting proper use of water, soil, and other natural resources, stabilize the population in rural areas, increase agricultural production, create effective employment and finally, increase the income and welfare of villagers and develop the northern, western and northwestern regions of the country.

Since the beginning of the current calendar year, which has been named the year of “surge in production” by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Seyed Ali Khamenei, the government has urged various bodies and ministries to take the necessary measures for the realization of the year’s motto.

In this regard, since the beginning of the year, every week several major projects have gone operational in various sectors.

The Energy Ministry has implemented a program called “A-B-Iran” based on which the ministry inaugurates several energy projects every week, and the Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry is also following a new scheme called “Persistent Production-Effective Employment-Sustainable Exports” under which the ministry has inaugurated numerous projects so far.

EF/MA