TEHRAN – During a national conference on maritime-oriented development which was held on the occasion of National Ports and Maritime Day, 31 major contracts and memorandums of understanding (MOUs) worth 500 trillion rials (about $1.0 billion) were signed with domestic and foreign private sector companies for investment in the country's ports.

As the portal of the country’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) reported, the signing ceremony of the mentioned deals and MOUs was attended by senior officials including Transport and Urban Development Minister Mehrdad Bazarpash, PMO Head Ali-Akbar Safaei, and Head of the Parliament’s Construction Committee Mohammadreza Rezaei Kochi.

Based on the signed deals and MOUs the private companies are going to implement development projects in the ports of Shahid Rajaei, Imam Khomeini, Bushehr, Amirabad, Shahid Beheshti, Anzali, and Nowshahr.

On the sidelines of the mentioned conference, also a deal was signed for the construction of 50 passenger ferries with a total investment of 100 trillion rials (about $200 million).

Earlier in November, Safaei said PMO was going to attract 1.0 quadrillion rials (about $2.0 billion) of investment in the country’s ports and maritime sectors to develop maritime economy.

Speaking in a televised interview on November 12, the official said 450 trillion rials (about $900 million) of the mentioned figure is going to be invested by the private sector and the rest will be supplied by PMO.

According to the official, private contractors have so far signed deals worth 60 trillion rials (about $120 million) with PMO to implement development projects in the country’s ports.

“To realize the general development policies of the maritime sector, we need an integrated, coordinated, and agile management at the highest level,” Safaei said.

While Iran is combating the U.S. unilateral sanctions on its economy, the country’s ports as the major gates of exports and imports play a significant role in this battle. This role makes all-out support to ports and more development of them serious and vital.

Such necessity has led the government to define projects for more development of the ports and also take some measures to encourage investment making in ports, in addition to facilitating the loading and unloading of goods, especially basic commodities, there.

It is worth mentioning that Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization has defined a high number of projects to develop and improve the country’s ports, as the country aims to double the capacity of its ports in five years.

According to the PMO, the capacity of the country's ports has increased from 180 million tons in the Iranian calendar year 1392 (ended in March 2014) to 250 million tons in 1399 (ended in March 2021).

EF/MA