TEHRAN- Some 980 kilometers of freeways will be inaugurated throughout Iran during the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 20, 2021), Transport and Urban Development Minister Mohammad Eslami said.

The minister said that there are currently 2,460 km of freeways laid across the country, Mehr news agency reported.

Mentioning Transport and Urban Development Ministry’s plans for the current Iranian year, Eslami noted that construction of 1600 km of highways as well as 400,000 affordable housing units is also on the ministry’s agenda for the current year.

According to the official, in the current year, the country’s railway network is also going to be expanded by 2,400 km, while 29 airport development projects are also going to be completed to increase the passenger transportation capacity of the country’s airports by 10 million.

In the rail fleet section, 780 new locally-made locomotives are to be added to the rail transport fleet, Eslami said.

“This year, it is planned to add a total of 2,000 new wagons and locomotives to the country’s railway fleet,” he added.

The minister also said that 53,000 trucks will also be renovated in an effort to modernize the cargo and passenger transport fleet, which would save the country 960 million liters of diesel.

Back in January, Deputy Transport and Urban Development Minister Kheirollah Khademi had announced that six prioritized freeways projects with a total length of 550 kilometers (KM) were planned to be inaugurated by the Iranian Calendar year of 1400 (starts on March 21, 2021).

“With these new freeways going operational, the length of the country's freeways will increase by nearly 25 percent,” Khademi, who is also the managing director of Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructures Company (CDTIC), said in a press conference.

According to the official, CDTIC has it on the agenda to build 3500 km of new freeways and highways across the country, nearly 1200 of which is currently under construction.

Khademi further noted that of the country’s total 38,000 kilometers of arterial roads, about 18,000 kilometers are highways and about 2400 kilometers are freeways.

EF/MA