TEHRAN – Head of Iran’s Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution Management Company (Tavanir) inaugurated 14 water and electricity projects worth 3.37 trillion rials (about $80.2 million) in the Southwestern Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari province in a ceremony on Wednesday.

The mentioned projects went operational in the 13th week of the Energy Ministry’s A-B-Iran program, based on which, every week, the ministry inaugurates numerous projects in various provinces across the country.

A-B-Iran scheme [the acronyms A and B stand for water, electricity in Persian] was initiated in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19), during which the minister made 31 trips to various provinces for inaugurating over 220 major projects with a total investment of 335.6 trillion rials (about $7.99 billion).

The projects included a wastewater treatment plant, several electricity supply projects for rural areas, power grid optimization, increasing the capacity of several power distribution stations, etc.

Speaking in the inauguration ceremony, Mohammad-Hassan Motevalizadeh stated that the development of the energy sector in Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari province has provided a suitable platform for attracting investors, saying: "Today, we can announce to all investors that there are no restrictions in terms of electricity supply in this province."

He further expressed gratitude for people’s cooperation with the ministry’s consumption management programs and noted that over 5,500 megawatts of electricity was saved by people’s optimal consumption during the summer.

He put the value of people’s electricity saving in the peak consumption period at 1 quadrillion rials (about $23.8 billion), stating that for supplying 5,500 MW of electricity a new power plant should have been constructed which would have needed over $1 billion.

Motevalizadeh noted that the summer peak consumption period has been passed without any intentional blackouts with people’s cooperation.

Earlier this year, Iran’s Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian said in the second phase of the A-B-Iran program the ministry is going to inaugurate 250 major energy projects worth 500 trillion rials (about $11.9 billion) during the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 20, 2021).

According to Ardakanian, in the water sector, the mentioned projects include nine major dams, implementation of modern irrigation systems in 54,000 hectares of land, 20 water, and wastewater treatment plants and supplying drinkable water through a pipeline to more than 1400 rural areas across the country.

Since the beginning of the second phase of the scheme in the current Iranian calendar year, every week several energy projects have gone operational across the country.

EF/MA