Providing People With Drinking Water a Top Government Priority: Minister
August 22, 2000 - 0:0
KASHAN, Isfahan Province Minister of Energy Habibollah Bitaraf said here on Sunday that providing drinking water to all parts of the country, particularly to drought-stricken regions, is a top priority in governmental programs.
Referring to a government target of providing electricity to some 800 villages throughout the country during Government Week (August 29-September 4), he said that several units of two power plants in the cities of Arak and Yazd and 1,000km of new electricity transfer lines will become operational during the said week.
Referring to his ministry's budget deficit, he stressed that it will be a great obstacle in the way of implementation of national and provincial projects.
He called on the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majlis) to raise the budget ceiling for the Energy Ministry next year. His proposal, he said, will be a great help in the rapid implementation of water and electricity projects.
The minister who, earlier this year, inspected a project transferring Zayandeh Roud water to the central city of Kashan, expressed his hope the project will become operational over the next four years.
He reiterated that the project is one of his ministry's costly infrastructure projects costing Rls.500 billion to finish, and that Rls.50 billion has already been spent.
Meanwhile in Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari Province some Rls.25,000 billion is to be spent on the implementation of different water and sewage disposal projects during the Third Five-Year Development Plan, it was revealed.
Managing Director of the Water Engineering and Sewerage Network, Gholamreza Manouchehri, said here on Saturday that projects to provide water to the cities of Mashhad, Zahedan, Tehran and the Persian Gulf littoral cities are priorities under the said plan.
He told reporters that the total population to be covered by the country's sewerage network by the end of the third plan will increase by 30 percent.
In order to obtain the said goal, some 20,000km of sewerage pipelines will be laid throughout the country, he added.
Manouchehri further stressed that the water capacity of the country's dams will also be increased by 1.2 billion cubic meters by the end of the third plan.
Currently some 96 percent of the country's total population have access to drinking water from its sewerage network, he said.
"Rls.3,000 billion has been earmarked for various water and sewerage projects throughout the country in the current Iranian year (which ends on March 20, 2001), he concluded.
(IRNA)
Referring to a government target of providing electricity to some 800 villages throughout the country during Government Week (August 29-September 4), he said that several units of two power plants in the cities of Arak and Yazd and 1,000km of new electricity transfer lines will become operational during the said week.
Referring to his ministry's budget deficit, he stressed that it will be a great obstacle in the way of implementation of national and provincial projects.
He called on the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majlis) to raise the budget ceiling for the Energy Ministry next year. His proposal, he said, will be a great help in the rapid implementation of water and electricity projects.
The minister who, earlier this year, inspected a project transferring Zayandeh Roud water to the central city of Kashan, expressed his hope the project will become operational over the next four years.
He reiterated that the project is one of his ministry's costly infrastructure projects costing Rls.500 billion to finish, and that Rls.50 billion has already been spent.
Meanwhile in Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari Province some Rls.25,000 billion is to be spent on the implementation of different water and sewage disposal projects during the Third Five-Year Development Plan, it was revealed.
Managing Director of the Water Engineering and Sewerage Network, Gholamreza Manouchehri, said here on Saturday that projects to provide water to the cities of Mashhad, Zahedan, Tehran and the Persian Gulf littoral cities are priorities under the said plan.
He told reporters that the total population to be covered by the country's sewerage network by the end of the third plan will increase by 30 percent.
In order to obtain the said goal, some 20,000km of sewerage pipelines will be laid throughout the country, he added.
Manouchehri further stressed that the water capacity of the country's dams will also be increased by 1.2 billion cubic meters by the end of the third plan.
Currently some 96 percent of the country's total population have access to drinking water from its sewerage network, he said.
"Rls.3,000 billion has been earmarked for various water and sewerage projects throughout the country in the current Iranian year (which ends on March 20, 2001), he concluded.
(IRNA)