TEHRAN- As announced by a provincial official, 44 idle industrial units returned to the production cycle in East Azarbaijan province, northwest of Iran, in the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-Septemebr 22).

Rahim Babaei, the deputy head of the province’s Industrial Parks Company, also said that 33 more units are planned to return to the production cycle in the province by the yearend.

The official further announced that 1.31 trillion rials (about $31.19 million) has been invested for the development of infrastructure in the industrial parks of the province in the first half of the year.

Emphasizing that reviving the idle production units and helping the completion of the semi-finished projects are on the agenda of his company’s activities, Babaei mentioned identifying the idle units and their problems, planning for supporting them and removing their problems as the major measures in this due.

As announced by the head of Iran Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organization (ISIPO), in the last Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20), 1,557 stagnant and semi-active units returned to the production cycle in the industrial parks with a financing of 35 trillion rials (over $833 million), providing employment for 27,000 people.

With the aim of reactivating stagnant units or units that are operating below capacity, 900 consultants from the private sector and knowledge-based companies were selected in the form of industry clinics across the country to recognize the weaknesses of these units, Ali Rasoulian has previously stated.

“Despite the two major challenges of sanctions and coronavirus pandemic, which imposed severe restrictions on the country, we tried to activate domestic capacities by turning to localizing the technology of manufacturing parts and equipment”, he added.

Sanctions have caused problems for financial exchanges and the export of goods to other countries, he said, adding, “The negative effects of coronavirus pandemic on various parts of the country, including industry, are not hidden from anyone, and the economic growth of some countries has reached below zero during this period.”

Iran is proud that despite these restrictions and pressure from these two important challenges, its industry has grown by more than seven percent, according to the statistics and reports from various sectors, the official further highlighted.

Also, as announced by Deputy Industry, Mining, and Trade Minister Mehdi Sadeqi Niaraki, over 6,500 new industrial units were established across the country during the past year which created jobs for over 121,000 people.

Touching upon the Industry Ministry’s plans for the realization of the motto of the current year which is named the year of “Production: support and the elimination of obstacles” by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, the official has said: “In the year that has been dedicated to the production sector by the Leader of the revolution, the orientation of all government organizations and executive bodies should be towards supporting the country’s industrial and mining units.”

Niaraki pointed to a 40-percent increase in the issuance of establishment licenses for industrial units in the previous year, saying: “The number of establishment licenses increased to more than 36,000 last year, which shows that people are encouraged to invest in the productive sectors.”

He also mentioned an 85-percent rise in the allocation of land for establishing industrial units across the country and noted that over 4,500 hectares of land were handed over to applicants in the previous calendar year.

According to the official, there are over 46,000 small and medium-sized industrial units in Iran’s industrial parks and zones, of them about 9,200 units are inactive.

MA/MA