TEHRAN – Head of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) said currently 95 of the country’s urban and rural areas are connected to the national gas network, Shana reported on Tuesday.

Speaking in a national seminar in Tehran, Hassan Montazer Torbati said Iran is the only country in the region with such an extensive gas supply network and the realization of this network is due to the government’s concerns for the expansion of public welfare in all parts of the country.

According to the official, in the past few years, every year more than 3,000 villages have been connected to the national gas network.

Back in August, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said 84 percent of the country’s rural areas were supplied with gas through the national gas network.
According to the minister, at the time, some 28,916 villages were connected to the national gas network.

He put the cost of gas supply to the cities and rural areas at 192 trillion rials (about $4.5 billion), of which 157 trillion rials (about $3.7 billion) have been spent in villages and the rest was spent to supply gas to urban areas.

Earlier that month, National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC)'s Gas Distribution Director Saeid Momeni said the NIGC has it on the agenda to supply gas to 10 villages every month to reach the goal of 3600 villages by the end of the current year (March 19, 2020).

Earlier in January, the Iranian parliament (Majlis) approved a bill to allocate 50 trillion rials (about $1.16 billion) for expanding the country’s gas network to new rural areas.

According to the bill, the banks would provide NIGC and provincial gas companies with the mentioned fund under the Oil Ministry’s guarantee.

EF/MA