TEHRAN - Deputy of ports and economic affairs at Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) said the organization is planning to hand over the development of 25 small ports across the country to the private sector in the upcoming weeks, ISNA reported on Sunday.

“Improving business and tourism aspects of the mentioned ports is more in focus in the hand-overs, and private sector cooperatives and associations are a priority for evaluation and awarding,” Mohammad-Ali Hassanzadeh said.

“The processes and procedures for the tenders are now being finalized, and we are awaiting approval by the PMO board to approve it,” he added.

According to Hassanzadeh, the number of small ports in Iran ranges from 48 to 52 ports (the uncertainty about the number of them is due to the disagreements between various institutions over the definition of small ports), about half of which are operated by PMO and some are operated by the Fisheries Organization and Customs Administration.

The capabilities and applications of the small ports, which are mostly commercial, vary from port to port. Although some ports enjoy touristic attractions in addition to commercial uses, however, most of them have non-commercial uses like fishing purposes, the official said.

Back in September, Hassanzadeh said that PMO has finished a plan to study and investigate the status of small ports in the country to transfer their development to the private sector by the next two months.

While small ports can play some key and essential role in the country’s current economic condition, their development can also prevent from the immigration of their population to the big cities through job creation.

EF/MA