TEHRAN – Iran’s parliament has passed a bill, allowing the administration to allocate one percent of oil and gas revenues annually for railways development projects across the country.

The sum is estimated to be about $1 billion and will be disbursed over the sixth five-year national development plan, ending in 2021, ISNA quoted Saeed Rasouli, the deputy director of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (IRIR), as saying on Monday.

Moreover, a 10-percent share of the country’s diesel sales income, which is estimated to be around $7.5 billion, will be earmarked for the railways sector, he added.

According to IRNA, the budget will be used in implementing rail transport projects and launching high-speed trains with the main focus on underdeveloped regions.

Transportation through railway rose 100 percent in Iran over the past Iranian calendar year 1394 (ended on March 19, 2016) from its previous year and also in 1393 from its preceding year, according to the former head of IRIR, Mohsen Pour Seyed Aqaei.

The national budget bill for the next Iranian calendar year 1396, which starts on March 21, 2017, is based on an oil price of $50 per barrel, with a focus on unemployment, water resources, railways and the environment. 

It estimates crude oil exports at about 2.42 million barrels per day. Oil income has a share of 1.1 quadrillion rials (about $29 billion) in the budget, a 48 percent rise year on year.

Meanwhile, the budget has allocated 600 trillion rials (about $15.7 billion) to development projects, compared to 570 trillion rials (about $15 billion) in the current year’s budget.

EF/MG