TEHRAN- The first section of the long-awaited Tehran-Shomal Freeway will be completed by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2017), First Vice-President Es’haq Jahangiri announced during his visit to the project site on Monday.

The freeway aims to connect Tehran to the northern province of Mazandaran.

The protracted construction of the Tehran-Shomal Freeway, which was started around 20 years ago, has turned into a major concern for the government. The freeway reportedly includes four sections, spanning 121 kilometers upon completion.

As ISNA reported, this has been Jahangiri’s third visit to the long-awaited project since President Hassan Rouhani took office in August 2013. 

Initially, a group of Iranian engineers living in the United States proposed the project to the government of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (Iran’s president from 1989 to 1997).

The government later rejected the proposal, assigning the project to Mostazafan Foundation—the second-largest conglomerate in Iran. Nonetheless, the project ran into problems over financing and implementation.

Based on a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Transport and Urban Development and Mostazafan Foundation last year, a Chinese contractor was tasked with completing the tunnels and bridges along this section. 

Earlier in May, South Korean Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Kang Ho-in in his meeting with Iranian Transport and Urban Development Minister Abbas Akhoundi offered cooperation on completion of this freeway. 

HJ/