TEHRAN – In the latest meeting of the dialogue council of the government and the Tehran Province’s private sector on Saturday the issues and challenges that the private sector desalination companies are currently facing were discussed.

As reported by the portal of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (TCCIMA), the meeting was attended by officials and representatives of the private sector and government including Mohammadreza Taheri, the deputy secretary of the Government and Private Sector Dialogue Council of Tehran Province, and Vahid Ghandchi, Secretary of the Association of Water Desalination Companies.

Speaking at the gathering, Ghandchi underlined the importance of supporting the companies active in the desalination sector, saying that currently, water desalination companies are supplying drinking water for 10 million residents along the Persian Gulf and Makran coasts and more than 90 percent of the country's water desalination contractors are members of the Association of Water Desalination Companies.

According to the official, the members of his association desalinate 650,000 cubic meters of water daily across the country, for 450,000 cubic meters of which the companies have guaranteed purchase contracts with the Energy Ministry.

About 200,000 cubic meters of the desalinated water is also supplied for industries, the official said.

Mentioning the challenges facing the companies, Ghandchi said the Energy Ministry owes desalination companies a great deal and the debts have been accumulated over time.

“We expect that according to the agreements made under the framework of the current year’s national budget bill, a credit line will be opened for the allocation and payment of the energy ministry’s debts to desalination companies for guaranteed purchase,” the official said.

He noted that the activities of many small and large companies have been disrupted or halted due to the lack of liquidity and unpaid debts.

EF/MA